


honey, you should see me in a crown

by altereliott



Category: SKAM (France)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bodyguard, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Bodyguard Eliott, Bodyguard Romance, Drama & Romance, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Modern Royalty, Prince Lucas, and Lucas the big brother, and Lucas the spoiled prince, and some hot and sexual tension, and strong friendships, kinda enemies to lovers?, like a lot of dramaaaaa
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2020-02-04
Packaged: 2020-07-23 00:10:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 24,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20000767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/altereliott/pseuds/altereliott
Summary: Lucas Lallemant, crown prince and heir to the throne, never needed someone to protect him. He never needed someone to protect him until the day he nearly got stabbed by an assassin.Now he has to deal with an annoying bodyguard named Eliott Demaury who is, to the chagrin of Lucas, fucking handsome too.As if his life isn't difficult enough already.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> TW: death

**_Newsflash_ ** **_: Prince Lucas attacked at the opening of the new museum for royal history_ **

_Prince Lucas Lallemant, the youngest son of the Queen and the King, was involved into an attack from a yet unknown person at the opening of the new museum for Royal History. A man around 40 pushed through the crowd and the guards and nearly stabbed the young prince with a long knife, the guards shielding the prince before worse thing happened. The police is still investigating and—_

Lucas sighed deeply, throwing the newspaper away from him and leaning back onto the couch, his gaze wandering to the ceiling.

“This sounds like I already died”, murmured Lucas to himself, laying an arm over his eyes and enjoying the few peaceful moments before he had to face his parents.

The attack laid back two days now and Lucas never had seen this many guards around him. His parents thought that an assassin was going to kill him any minute and although Lucas was fucking afraid when he saw that guy coming up to him, the sunlight reflecting on the sharp blade, he could very well protect himself. And although he knew nothing of fighting, he could use a fucking dagger.

He had been learning all of this his whole life and he didn’t see that attack coming nevertheless. Well, something like this never happened before though. And something like this should have never happened to him in the first place.

Because he was never born to be the heir of the throne.

Lucas sat up and looked around his room, the feeling of being captured in this castle being very present these last days where his parents and their guards had been occupying him literally 24/7.

And despite all of that, Lucas really enjoyed it to be a prince.

He really did.

He loved the balls, the magnificence of his room and the opulence of his life in general.

But sometimes, everything he wanted was to be a normal boy with a normal life and normal friends, going back to the days where he wasn’t destined to be the next king. Going back to the days, where there was much more laughter and happiness in the castle.

But at least something remained from these better days.

He got to know Yann, Arthur and Basile at the public high school he attended for two years till his parents insisted on home-schooling him in the castle. He lost contact to nearly all of his former friends, them also being kind of afraid to be friends with the prince of their land. But Yann, Arthur and Basile stayed.

And Lucas snuck out of the castle as often as he could to meet them.

“Your Highness?”

Lucas turned around. He didn’t even hear the door and yet, a guard was standing in the door. He never had a friend in this castle although he tried really hard to have some kind of connection with the male guards. But since they knew that Lucas was gay, they retreated in themselves, only having a business affair with Lucas.

_Yeah, because I will jump at every male human being now._

“Your parents are now ready to see you.”

“Finally”, murmured Lucas and ran a hand through his messy hair. His mum always told him to keep his hair short but he liked the way it curled at the end, sticking out to several sides of his head. When he had to wear some kind of a suit the whole time instead of his comfy joggers and an oversize sweatshirt, he could at least wear his hair the way he wanted to.

The guards were leading him down the hallway towards the throne room where his parents waited for him. As if he wouldn’t know the way by heart now. His steps were muffled through the ruby red carpet under his feet and Lucas’ thoughts traveled from one to another. He tried not to think of the shocked expression and the silent scream on his mum’s face as the man approached Lucas, ready to kill him. He tried not to think of it because it would bring other pictures back which Lucas had been fighting for the last 48 hours. The hallways were packed with guards, everyone watching Lucas’ every step and to be honest, he felt more and more captured in this palace then being at home here.

“Mummy, please!”

But suddenly, a smile was spreading on Lucas’ face.

_I nearly forgot._

“No, Cecille. He’ll be here soon and then you can—”

“Who’ll be here soon?”

“LULU!”

Lucas laughed and kneeled down as he’d entered the throne room. A little girl in a pinkish dress ran towards him, her blonde curls flying around her head as she flung himself into Lucas’ arms and Lucas stood up in the same moment, swirling her around in the air.

“Hey, my little princess”, said Lucas with a laugh and sat his little sister on his hip, the small girl throwing her tiny arms around him.

“I’ve missed you so much!”

“And I’ve missed you, Cece”, said Lucas which was the absolutely truth. His sister had been on a summer camp, their mum wanting to have some kind of “normal” life for Cece, if this was even possible. Lucas had missed her and to the same time, he was happy that his little sister weren’t present on the day he was nearly murdered.

“Mummy told me you were nearly killed.”

“Cecille!”

Lucas gazed towards his mum who tried to hide her emotions as a good queen always did. He smiled reassuring at her and kissed Cece on the nose after this.

“Well, but I’m still here. Who’s gonna have tea parties with you if I weren’t here anymore?”

Cece laughed and laid her head on Lucas’ shoulder.

“I’m glad you’re still here”, she whispered and a warm and soft smile broke out on Lucas’ lips.

“And so am I.”

“Lucas.”

Lucas looked up as a strong and firm voice addressed him, his dad raising his eyebrows at him. Lucas took a deep breath and set Cece down, his back straightening automatically as he walked towards his father, the king. Lucas loved his parents, although they were really strict sometimes, his father especially. But who would think any other way of the king? His dad was seated in his throne, his mum sitting next to him while Cece sat down on the stairs in front of them, playing silently with her puppets. Lucas made a tiny bow in front of his parents.

“You wanted to see me, father?”

“Yes. And you know exactly why.”

“I suppose”, murmured Lucas and looked down, his hands sliding in the pockets of his suit trouser. He took place on his little throne next to his father, lounging into it as if he was seated on his couch. Lucas knew everything about the etiquette on the court but sometimes he just wanted to be… Lucas. And although his father always gave him a skeptically look at this behavior, he usually didn’t say anything about it when this behavior happened in private.

“Lucas, you shouldn’t take all of this so lightly”, said his mum now, her voice full of worry and fear. Lucas sighed deeply and leaned his head back on the throne, looking up at the golden ceiling with its thousands of chandeliers.

“I’m guarded by so many people now, mum. I cannot even go out to the garden without someone following me”, said Lucas and sat up, looking at his parents now, “I mean – nothing happened in the end, right?”

“But something could have happened, Lucas.” The voice from his dad was now a bit louder, anger about this whole situation surfacing slowly. Anger directed towards the world and the cruel people in it.

“We still haven’t found this guy who attacked you and your mum and I don’t want to lose another son.”

Silence.

Even Cece stopped to play with her puppets for a moment. Lucas’ gaze wandered to his mum who was on the edge of tears. It was egoistically of him to think that the pain about Clément had faded away already. Because it would never fade away, Lucas was sure about it. There were days where it was okay. And then they were days where Lucas couldn’t take all of this, where he blamed the guy who shot down his older brother for all of his misery, where he screamed at the guards for now reason, where he couldn’t breathe anymore.

“I’m sorry”, murmured Lucas now and took a deep breath. He was standing up, walking over to his mum and took her hands between his while sitting down on the armrest of her throne. His mum was staring at nothing in particular and sometimes Lucas was worried about her mental health.

“Nothing will happen, mum. I promise.”

“You cannot promise anything like this”, said his father now, Lucas being surprised by the weakness in his voice, “And because you cannot promise us this, we made some arrangements to secure your safety.”

“I have thousands of guards around me and—”

“The guards are responsible for you in the palace. But not in your free time or on official events.”

Realization slowly dawned on Lucas.

_No way. No fucking way._

“And that’s why you’re getting a personal bodyguard in the next days.”

Lucas jumped up from where he was seated and stared at his father, rage burning in his eyes.

“Are you fucking kidding me, father?”

“Mind your language, Lucas!”

“I don’t need a fucking bodyguard. I—I can very well protect myself. I can use a dagger, I can learn how to fight, I—”

“Your new bodyguard will teach you all of this. And this decision is not up for debate, young man. You’ll get a bodyguard and he will keep you safe.” The tone in his father’s voice tolerated no resistance. Lucas was breathing heavily, his fingernails digging into the palm of his hands. The little freedom he had would be gone now too. He would be a prisoner in his own house. He wouldn’t be able to sneak out at night anymore to meet his friends, to meet other people, to be someone else. He wouldn’t—

“This is fucking bullshit.”

His father was now standing up, towering over Lucas and Lucas had to resist the urge to back away.

“You’re thinking so selfishly, Lucas. Think about the throne. Think about _your_ land. You are my only heir now and you are responsible for your actions. One day, you will sit on this throne and you will reign this land. It isn’t about you, Lucas. It’s about the people who need you.”

Lucas bit the inside of his cheek from responding that he couldn’t give a lesser fuck about the throne right now. He felt as if the last bit of air was taken away from him.

“May I retreat into my room?”, asked Lucas with clenched teeth. His father was taking a deep breath now and looked down, slowly sinking back into his seat again as if this whole situation demanded a lot of strength from him.

“You may.”

Lucas swirled around and stomped out of the room.

“It’s only for your best, Lucas”, called his mum after him but Lucas was already out of the room and leaned against the wall in the hallway, breathing heavily and blinking away the tears which were fighting their way into his eyes.

 _For my best, of course. But has anyone thought about asking me what_ I _think is best for me?_

“Lulu?”

Lucas opened his eyes which he had closed to calm down a bit. As he heard the thin voice of his sister, he looked to the right and saw Cece standing there, clutching her puppet to her chest. And suddenly, some of the anger seemed to leave his body as his young sister looked at him with her big blue eyes which were so similar to his own.

“What is it, little princess?”, asked Lucas quietly while kneeling down in front of her, taking one of her tiny hands in his own.

“Mummy and daddy are right, you know?”

Lucas sighed deeply and looked down.

“Who’s gonna have tea parties with me if you are gone too?”

Her voice was so quiet and he could feel how much Cece missed Clément too. Clément, Cee and Lucas had been so close to each other. When Clément was gone, everything changed, especially for Lucas.

His father had been right again; he was selfish, only thinking about him and his freedom. But his freedom, his free space, was the only thing left which separated him a tiny bit from all the duties he had to face.

Lucas pulled his sister into a hug and buried his face into her blonde curls, seeking some comfort in the love he felt for his sister and the love he received from her.

“I love you, Lulu.”

“And I love you”, answered Lucas silently and the ice and anger which had cramped around his heart seemed to melt away slowly but surely.

Lucas parted from his sister after some moments passed and stood up.

“Where are you going now?”

Lucas looked over his shoulder to the big window in the hallway. The sun was slowly setting and there was only one thing he wanted to do now.

“I’m gonna get a bit of distraction now.”

His sister smiled because she knew what Lucas meant by distraction.

He had to use the last few days in relatively freedom and when he closed the door to his room, he immediately grabbed his phone and unlocked it, opening the group chat between his friends and him.

 **lucallemant:** someone up for getting wasted?


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucas Lallemant, crown prince and heir to the throne, never needed someone to protect him. He never needed someone to protect him until the day he nearly got stabbed by an assassin.
> 
> Now he has to deal with an annoying bodyguard named Eliott Demaury who is, to the chagrin of Lucas, fucking handsome too.
> 
> As if his life isn’t difficult enough already.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> first of all: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT!!!! and now, enjoy some sexual tension

Lucas waited in front of the palace, a little smile on his face. He always felt rebellious whenever he snuck out of the castle, meeting his friends in the deepest night and having some fun, some distraction from the royal life around him. He didn’t get to see his friends very often but when they decided to roam around the city, it was always a little adventure for Lucas. The guards usually didn’t know when he snuck out, Lucas found a way to disappear from the castle for some hours unseen until the guards would search the whole city for him. He actually didn’t want to go out in the next days after this… incident. But with the arrival of his bodyguard loaming at the back of his head, he had to use the last bit of freedom as long as he could.

Lucas leaned against the wall, the hood from his sweater drawn inside his face so that people wouldn’t recognize him on the street. He was standing in the shadow of the castle and his smirk only deepened as he heard hushed voices and saw three figures moving through the dark, approaching him as quiet as they could. Lucas pushed himself off of the wall and walked towards them, a grin on all of their faces now.

“I thought you already started without me”, whispered Lucas into the night as he reached his friends. They all greeted each other with a handshake combined with a hug and Yann, Lucas’ best friend, ruffled through his hair under the hood.

“We would never dare to do such a thing, your highness”, whispered Basile back and giggled, Lucas rolling his eyes. Basile and all the others knew how much Lucas hated it to be called like this but they had their fun mocking him. And Lucas would rather get mocked by them than not being able to talk with them at all.

“Someone got the weed?”, asked Lucas and looked at all of them and Yann wiggled his eyebrows, pulling out the stuff and showing it into the round. Lucas’ smile deepened as he threw his arms around Yann’s shoulders.

“We don’t have a lot time before the guards will discover my absence. Let’s make every second count.”

“Minute by minute”, answered Arthur with a smile. That was their thing, living from minute to minute and not wasting anything in between. It had a much deeper meaning for Lucas but he was glad to share this kind of a life motto with his friends.

“Minute by minute”, repeated the little group and with quiet laughter, they set off into the night, ready to find a place to get wasted and to lose control for one night, for some precious hours.

* * *

These were the times were Lucas truly felt alive.

Lucas danced the night away, a beer in his hands surrounded by his friends and music which he could feel reverberating in his bones. These moments were so rare that he drunk them in like air. He smiled, laying his head back while singing the words to the song which was playing in the club they were currently in.

“So, you’re getting a bodyguard, Lulu?”, screamed Yann over the loud music and with one sentence, he was back into the reality again.

Lucas groaned, looking at his best friend and Arthur rolled his eyes.

“Lucas wanted to get wasted tonight and not talk about his royal life”, said Arthur and nudged Yann on his shoulder. Yann lifted his hands innocently, looking over to Lucas again.

“I only want to know what’s going on in the royal life of my best friend.”

Lucas sighed and took a sip from his beer, moving along to the music the whole time.

“Yeah, I’m getting a bodyguard and the last freedom of mine will be gone too.”

“Maybe he’s young and hot.”

Lucas raised his eyebrows as he looked at Basile. They all knew about Lucas’ sexuality and totally supported him in this.

“Maybe he’s old and grumpy”, answered Lucas and the others couldn’t hide a smile from their face.

“Old and grumpy Mister bodyguard will have a lot of fun with young and grumpy Lucas”, said Yann with a grin and took Lucas’ empty glass, “I’m gonna get some more beer for you. Maybe it’s our last time being out for a long time.”

Lucas really hoped that Yann was wrong this time.

Yann disappeared in the crowd and Arthur, Basile and Lucas danced to the new song which was blasting out of the speakers now. Lucas loved this song and jumped with his friends, turning and spinning and laughing. Lucas turned around and his gaze flew over the crowd of young people having fun and dancing.

And suddenly, everything seemed to stop.

Lucas’ eyes landed on a guy who was directly looking at him, dancing with his friends who apparently were talking to him. But he didn’t focus on them – he was focused on Lucas. Normally, Lucas would look away now, hide his face and his body behind his friends. But the stranger didn’t seem to recognize that he was the prince. Usually, no one ever recognized him, to be honest.

And Lucas really didn’t want to take away his eyes from this fucking hot man.

He had messy hair and his eyes seemed glassy, probably from all the alcohol he already had. He was lifting his hand now, driving it through this messy hair of his and Lucas felt things inside of him while some kind of heat was rising inside of him. Lucas was biting his lips, a smirk now on his face while he literally made out with this stranger through eye contact.

_This is fucking hot._ He _is fucking hot._

The other one didn’t take his eyes away from Lucas and Lucas felt himself drawn towards this boy. He wanted to lay his hands on the other ones hips, pull him closer, lay his lips on his sharp jawbones and—

“Lucas, we need to leave.”

Lucas hadn’t listened to anything his friends had been saying for the past few minutes, he was way to occupied with eyefucking this stranger. But as he heard this words, he turned around to Yann who seemed to be breathless.

“What?”

“The guards. They are already searching for you in different clubs.” Yann pulled Lucas towards the exit by his sleeve, “We have to leave. _Now._ ”

Lucas couldn’t argue against this put he ripped himself away from Yann’s grip, turning around one last time to look at the stranger, to maybe memorize his face and find him again.

But he was gone.

Lucas’ felt something go cold inside of him.

“Lucas, let’s go”, hissed Yann and pulled Lucas out of the club. And maybe it was better that the hot stranger wasn’t there anymore.

Lucas couldn’t have left this easily otherwise.

* * *

“I don’t want to go home”, said Lucas with a laugh while all of them stumbled through the night, clearly drunk as fuck. But Lucas loved these nights – no protocol, no need to be the perfect heir to the throne, no need to behave. Only the constant pressure of the guards finding him was always kind of… stressing.

“Yeah, I also wouldn’t want to go home to a palace where every wishe will come true within seconds.”

“Shut the fuck up, Basile”, said Lucas and stumbled, taking a sip from the bottle of wine which Arthur had been carrying around the whole time, “If you want to trade places and become the prince of our country with people telling you what to do and how to behave the whole time, I would gladly do it.”

“I’ll pass”, answered Basile with a dumb laugh and Lucas passed the bottle to Arthur and Yann.

“Messieurs? May I see your ID please?”

Lucas hadn’t even seen the police at the end of the alley. And as he looked over to Basile, Yann and Arthur, he realized that he wasn’t the only one who was surprised by the officers standing in front of them now. They were not looking very friendly, one of them stretching his hand out to grab the ID of them.

And Lucas, being all drunk and happy in his little cloud, felt brave.

He pushed Yann, the oldest from all of them, aside and took position in front of the police officers, the bottle of wine still in his hand.

“Why?”

The officer looked down on Lucas as if he would watch an annoying insect.

“Because I said so.”

“Don’t you know who I am?”, asked Lucas while raising his eyebrows, the boys behind him being too drunk to stop Lucas from behaving this way. They only chuckled, Lucas tilting his head to the right side slightly to show them where to run off to in some seconds.

“You’re a drunk boy, probably underage and I want to see your ID. Now.”

But Lucas only grinned, being a little asshole because he actually knew that fucking with the police was really, really dumb.

“I’m the prince. I don’t need to show you anything, dudes.”

And with that, the group took off, laughing and running into the night. Their footsteps were echoing on the walls around them and their laughs flew through the night. Lucas heard how the police started to chase them. He looked over his shoulder and the rush of adrenaline made him laugh out loud again.

“We should separate!”, screamed Yann with a hint of a slur and all of them agreed on that.

“See you later, your highness”, called Arthur with a wink and as a crossroad came into sight, all of them took on a different direction. Lucas still felt the rush of adrenaline in his body but he also slowly felt how his strength was fading away, not having trained in weeks. He ran through the night, towards the castle and looked over his shoulder now and then. And suddenly, he saw how the officers rounded the corner and were still after him.

“Fuck this shit”, murmured Lucas. Couldn’t they have run after the other three of them? Lucas rolled his eyes and tried to mobilize his last strength, but as he turned his head around to look ahead of him again he suddenly realized what he got himself into.

He just ran into a dead end.

He stared at the big wall looming in front of him, the night getting thicker and thicker around him.

Okay, now he was _really_ fucked.

“Hey! You, stop this!”

Lucas looked around with some kind of panic in his throat.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fu—”

And suddenly, he was pulled into darkness. Lucas stumbled and followed the person who just grabbed his arm and pulled him through a little passage which couldn’t be seen on the first glance. And which hopefully couldn’t be seen by the officers too. His savior was much taller than him and Lucas’ hand fitted perfectly into the other one’s hand. And when they finally entered another street and the light from the street lamps flooded the darkness, Lucas came to a stop and tried to catch his breath.

“Oh fuck, this was close”, murmured Lucas who was leaning against a wall while his savior was also trying to catch his breath. He still looked around as if to check that they really got away from the police. But they were alone on this little street.

“True”, said the other one and Lucas looked up, already mesmerized by this soft and smooth voice.

Only then Lucas realized, that they were still holding hands. And Lucas wasn’t ready to let go just yet.

“And you are—”

Lucas was just about to ask for the name of his hero as the other one turned his head and the light illuminated his face. And Lucas’ breath nearly caught in his throat.

It was _him._

The beautiful boy from the club,

The boy who just disappeared without Lucas getting a last glance on him.

The boy who just saved him.

A smile, a big and wide smile, was spreading on Lucas’ face.

“Couldn’t let you go without asking for your name at least”, answered the stranger with a grin as Lucas recognized him and Lucas’ was already totally captured by his presence, by his smile and by these beautiful eyes. He was even more handsome this close and Lucas was not sure who gave him the permission to look like _that._

And the other one didn’t seem to know that he was standing in front of the prince.

And Lucas was really glad for this.

Often, people only wanted to get to know him because of his title. But this man, this man saved him because he found him attractive and because they literally made out with their eyes.

_This night couldn’t be any more perfect._

“I’m Eliott”, said the stranger now and took away his hand from Lucas’ only to stretch it out and shake Lucas’ hand again. Lucas chuckled quietly, the alcohol slowly fading away from his mind and brain.

“Thank you for saving my ass, Eliott.”

“You have a cute ass, so, you’re welcome.”

Lucas grinned at his boldness. It was a welcome change to the usual bootlicker he was surrounded with.

Lucas just opened his mouth to reply with something as he heard the bells from the palace.

_Oh shit._

Now, he was really, really, _really_ fucked.

Eliott frowned, looking up to the castle who was looming over the city.

“The prince seems to be missing”, murmured Eliott and Lucas slowly, very slowly, backed away from Eliott. He didn’t want to leave him, he really didn’t want to. He wanted to know him better and the sexual tension between them was undeniable. But he didn’t want to pull Eliott into the mess of his life. So he had to leave.

“I gotta go”, said Lucas now, several steps away from Eliott already and the frown of the other boy deepened as he looked back to Lucas. He took some steps towards Lucas and it broke Lucas’ heart a tiny bit to see Eliott feeling the same as he felt.

“Will I see you again?”, asked Eliott and Lucas could just not say no to this.

“Hopefully”, answered Lucas while still walking backwards, looking into Eliott’s eyes the whole time. He felt something inside of him, something he hasn’t felt in years, maybe something he hasn’t felt after all. He was not someone who just fell for strangers, for people he met at the disco, for people who rescued him from the police, for people who pulled him into fully with just their mere presence.

But here he was nevertheless, feeling like saying goodbye to the biggest opportunity in life till now.

“Tell me your name at least”, called Eliott now over the distance between them, Lucas already being several steps away from him. Lucas didn’t want to lie anymore. And he was glad that his name was not the most exotic thing ever.

“Lucas”, said he and grinned, the other one smiling now too. And, oh my, what a smile it was.

“Just call me Lucas.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucas Lallemant, crown prince and heir to the throne, never needed someone to protect him. He never needed someone to protect him until the day he nearly got stabbed by an assassin.
> 
> Now he has to deal with an annoying bodyguard named Eliott Demaury who is, to the chagrin of Lucas, fucking handsome too.
> 
> As if his life isn’t difficult enough already.

**lucallemant:** guys, I swear, I felt like being in a fucking movie

**y4z4s:** this is straight out of a romantic film

**basile_simple:** I cannot believe that he literally followed you from the club and saved your ass

**monvoisintuturo:** the following thing could also be considered as stalking???? Just saying

**lucallement:** shut up arthur & @basile_simple yeah, me neither. I thought I would never see him again

**monvoisintuturo:** setting the stalking plot aside: yeah ofc, you guys made out over the whole dance floor and you think it was unbelievable that he didn’t follow you?

**lucallement:** well, my flirts usually do not save me from the police

**basile_simple:** he has a point arthur

Lucas was still laying in his bed, shirtless, smirking up at his phone which he held above his face. He told his friends the whole story as soon as he got into his room again. The guards hadn’t caught him that night and when his parents came breathless into his room, searching for him everywhere, he was pretending to be asleep, shocked that his parents disturbed him this late at night. But this was not the first time he snuck out and his parents finding him in this situation as if nothing happened. And regarding the events and the near-death of Lucas, he had to endure a long, long speech about how dangerous his nightly adventures are and how the bodyguard will finally keep him in check. Cece, who was also awake to that time, had only chuckled.

It was morning now and in some hours, he would meet his new bodyguard for the first time. His parents told him that his bodyguard actually wouldn’t arrive until the end of the week, but considering Lucas being way to careless, they ordered him into the castle and into duty already today.

Lucas looked back onto his phone and their chat. The stranger, Eliott, hadn’t left his mind since their encounter in the night. And he desperately wanted to find him again, only to see, if the vibes he felt between them were also real in a sober state of mind.

**lucallemant:** you guys have to do me a favor

**basile_simple:** 100% yes

**y4z4s:** 100% not

**monvoisintuturo:** could you please stop with your bantering and let the man speak?

Lucas quietly chuckled to himself about the dumbness of his friends.

**lucallemant:** since the nightly adventures have to stop now…

**basile_simple:** rip nightly adventures :((((

**lucallemant:** you guys have to find Eliott for me

There were no new messages for some moments and Lucas asked himself if he did something wrong. But suddenly, his phone didn’t stop to vibrate from all the incoming messages all at once.

**y4z4s:** as if we will find him again under thousands of people

**basile_simple:** omg we’re playing cupid YESSS

**monvoisintuturo:** gimme a description of him and I will find him in less than 24h

Lucas loved the enthusiasm of his friends. They acted like Lucas was going to marry tomorrow.

**lucallemant:** he was tall, messy hair, bright eyes with a… idk how to describe their color, it seemed to change all the time and yeah, he wore black clothes and he looked like a guy who liked to wear black clothes? And his name is Eliott… And he likes to dance… kinda dorky…

Lucas stared at this message and just realized now that all of these things were true for every second young man on the street.

**basile_simple:** well…

**monvoisintuturo:** gotcha. we will just visit every club in this town and find every man with the dorkiest dance move, hoping to find your man that way.

**y4z4s:** this will be the worst mission of my life.

**lucallemant:** I appreciate every effort, love you guys <3

**basile_simple:** nawwwwwwww

**y4z4s:** we love you too, mec

Suddenly, there was a knock on his door. Time to get ready and meet his new rusty and old grandpa bodyguard. But at least he knew that someone was looking for his disco boy now, that he would eventually find him and endure this special feeling inside of him again whenever he glanced his way.

**lucallemant:** time to meet grandpa bodyguard now

**basile_simple:** let him know who the real boss is here

**lucallemant:** that would be my dad……….

**y4z4s:** just show him that you’re no kid who needs protection or something else, maybe he’ll disappear magically from the surface somehow then

**monvoisintuturo:** “magically” *pulls out mask, ready to kidnap lulu’s bodyguard*

**lucallemant:** you guys are unbelievable, I’ll miss you all

**y4z4s:** we’re not out of the world, mec. tell us how the meet up went

**basile_simple:** yeah, we wanna know everything

**monvoisintuturo:** go slay ‘em Lulu!

**lucallemant:** will do, arthur

Lucas smiled and locked his phone. He was glad to still have the support of his friends, also when things seemed to go southward way too fast. But maybe this whole bodyguard thing wasn’t as bad as he thought right now.

Lucas got out of the bed and laughed out loud at his own thoughts.

_As if. This will be hell on earth._

* * *

His mum wanted Lucas to wear the best clothes he had. As if any of his clothes weren’t the best things in the country. Lucas found himself in front of the mirror, wearing a black suit with a white shirt underneath and a black trouser which matched his suit jacket. He looked good, he had to admit to himself – like a prince. He drove a hand through his messy hair and he asked himself if there would be ever a day where his hair decided to cooperate with him. Today was definitely not that day.

When he emerged from his room, Cece already waited for him, sitting on a bench opposite from his room, her little legs dangling. Her eyes lit up and she ran towards Lucas as if the both of them hadn’t seen each other for years.

At least his little sister would always be on his side.

“Princess, you’re looking stunning this morning”, said Lucas with a grin as he lifted Cece up and sat her down on his hip. She was wearing a pastel blue dress with matching hairbows which made her blonde hair look golden. He was walking down the hallway with her now, the guards slightly bowing their head whenever he passed one of them. Cece giggled and kissed Lucas’ cheek, Lucas’ mood lifting up a tiny bit in this moment of affection from his sister.

“You’re also looking good, Lulu.”

“Mum would’ve killed me if I didn’t.”

“That’s true.”

She giggled again and as long as Cece would live in this castle, there would always be light and joy.

“Have you already seen my bodyguard?”, asked Lucas, curious about what was awaiting him at the end of the hallway and behind that big wooden door. Cece only grinned, making a motion as if she was locking her mouth with an unseen key and tossed it away, behind her.

“So, you’re not going to say anything?”, asked Lucas, amusement playing in his eyes. And Cece’s grin only deepened while she nodded and her blonde curls where jumping up and down at this motion.

“Oh, come on”, sighed Lucas and leaned back his head in a theatrical gesture, “Well, then I maybe have to torture you…”, said Lucas now and started to tickle his little sister. Her bubbling laughter filled the otherwise empty hallways and Cece begged him to stop, but he wouldn’t until she said something.

“Okay, okay! I will tell you everything I know if you stop”, said Cece breathless while trying to wind herself out of his arms. Lucas stopped, his eyes sparkling with laughter and he looked expectantly at his sister.

“Well?”

“I—”

“Cecille.”

Lucas and Cece turned their heads at this firm and strong voice. His father was standing in the doorway to the throne room now, looking at them with raised eyebrows. Lucas set down Cece and kissed her head.

“Our guest is already waiting”, said his father with a serious voice and inclined his head towards the room behind him. Lucas had enjoyed the bantering between him and his little sister which had distracted him from the end of his freedom.

But also a prince must face reality in the end.

“Go”, whispered Lucas towards his little sister and she ran towards their father and into the room behind him. Lucas took a deep breath and followed his sister with slow and steady steps, walking past his father, trying to ready himself for what, or better, who, he would find now. Who would be responsible for the end of his already limited freedom.

The first thing he thought when he saw him standing with his back to him in front of his mother was:

_Definitely not old and rusty._

He only saw his back for now, he was apparently in a conversation with his mum. His mum hadn’t seen him either and when he walked towards the both of them, he took in the other one’s appearance: he had to be around Lucas’ age (are people so young even allowed to be a bodyguard?) dressed in a black suit, messy hair, tall and—

Wait.

Lucas stopped in his tracks.

_No fucking—_

“Lucas! My darling”, said his mum now as her gaze landed on him over the shoulder of his new bodyguard. She was walking towards him but Lucas kept staring at the man who now turned around.

Lucas’ jaw dropped.

_Someone is definitely mocking me here._

And the other one’s jaw dropped also as he finally faced Lucas.

_This is a joke. A fucking joke._

“Honey, this is your new bodyguard”, said his mum now, pointing to the young man whose eyes Lucas would never forget.

This was some kind of dream.

In front of him stood the boy who hadn’t left Lucas’ mind since the past night. He looked refreshed and still more beautiful in the sunlight than under the night sky.

“Him?”, asked Lucas with a high-pitched voice as if this question would solve all the problems on this planet. Lucas was very glad that not only he seemed to be shocked, his opposite looked equally pale now.

If Yann, Arthur and Basile would have been here now, they would already lay on the floor, laughing so hard that they ended up having breathing issues.

But this was real.

Eliott, the beautiful boy who he magically felt so connected to, was his bodyguard.

And Lucas felt some kind of anger surfacing.

“Yes, him. We thought that someone around your age would be more… accessible for you”, said his mum now, apparently not realizing what was going on between Eliott and Lucas here right now. And well, how could she? She didn’t know that the both of them nearly jumped on each other the past night.

And now Lucas was supposed to listen to him like he was a little child? That Eliott-dorky-dance-boy was supposed to keep him in check?

_No fucking way._

All of the sexual tension he felt between them was overlayered by some feeling of anger. Out of all the men in this universe, it had to be him?

_Great, universe. Thank you._

Eliott seemed to find his composure again after some seconds where just pure shook took over his face. He took some steps towards Lucas, bowing before him, like he was supposed to, looking Lucas’ straight in the eye. There was nothing left of the love-drunken look on his face, this blissed out expression from last night. His cheeks weren’t flushed anymore after their run through the dark and Lucas also didn’t saw any longing in the face of the other one anymore. There was just pure professionality and Lucas was now sure that yesterday night was a dream or a product of the both of them being drunk as fuck.

“I’m honored to be in your service, Prince Lucas”, said Eliott now and Lucas was _this_ close to laughing out loud at this ridiculous situation. If it hadn’t been sad and infuriating to the same time, he would have lost it by now.

“My name’s Eliott Demaury.”

“Yeah, no shit, Sherlock”, mumbled Lucas under his breath although he didn’t want to. It just slipped past his tongue and his mum cleared her throat, reminding Lucas about his behavior.

And well, if Eliott didn’t want to continue where they left off last night, Lucas would also act like the prince he was supposed to be.

“Pleasure to meet you”, said Lucas with an ice-cold voice, never breaking eye contact with Eliott.

_This is not hell. This is worse._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh boi they are both really fucked


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucas Lallemant, crown prince and heir to the throne, never needed someone to protect him. He never needed someone to protect him until the day he nearly got stabbed by an assassin.
> 
> Now he has to deal with an annoying bodyguard named Eliott Demaury who is, to the chagrin of Lucas, fucking handsome too.
> 
> As if his life isn’t difficult enough already.

“Eliott will be responsible for your safety from now on.”

Lucas stopped listening to his mum already five minutes ago when she started to talk about all the influence Eliott would have on Lucas’ life now. He couldn’t take his eyes away from Eliott, boldly staring at the other boy who already averted his gaze towards his feet, apparently too embarrassed about all of this to meet Lucas’ eyes. Maybe he already regretted treating Lucas so distantly. Which he actually had to because this was his job and nothing more.

_This is all so fucking weird._

“Oh, and this is our youngest daughter, Cecille.”

Eliott looked finally up and his face seemed to lit up as Cece made her way towards him, sinking into a curtsey like a lady but nearly tripping over her own feet while doing so because she lost her balance. Eliott escaped a little chuckle at that while he kneeled down to be on eye-level with Cece. He stretched out his hand to kiss the back of Cece’s hand.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, your Highness”, said Eliott with his low and deep voice and Lucas couldn’t help but internally swoon at this voice who had been so close to his ear just some hours ago.

_Stop thinking about this. It was only a few moments. A few moments where the both of you were drunk as hell._

Cece giggled and, to Lucas’ surprise, blushed at Eliott’s words.

_She’s totally head over heels for him. But who wouldn’t?_

She ran back to their mother, hiding behind her legs and still looking at Eliott like he was some knight in shining armor.

Which he definitely was not.

Lucas nearly scoffed at the ridicules of all of this.

“Lucas?”

Lucas jumped as his father suddenly addressed him, making Lucas tear his glance away from Eliott who slowly got up again.

“Hm?”, made Lucas, his arms folded over his chest and his mind elsewhere.

“Have you listened to anything your mother just said?”

“Fighting practice, planning of my meetings, accompanying me to every event. Got that.”

Lucas was ready to burst out of that room and get some fresh air, maybe even facetime with his friends to tell them that the unbelievable happened and that his new bodyguard was definitely _not_ old and rusty but young and fucking hot.

The heavy sigh from his mum made him look over to her and he suddenly felt a sting of guilt inside of him, making him loosen his tensed shoulders a bit. Lucas knew that his mum didn’t want all of this but that she saw no other possibility for Lucas to be safe. She only wanted the best for him and Lucas acted like an arsehole. But he couldn’t see all of this coming, not even in his wildest imagination. His mum was now coming over to him, taking him by both of his shoulders and looking into his eyes, the worried look on her face making her seem more older than she actually was.

“I only want you to be safe, honey”, she said quietly and Lucas closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. He was glad that his mum decided to go for a younger bodyguard in his age and not leave him alone with some grandpa type of bodyguard. But why him, from all of the thousands of people in his country. Why him?

“I know, mum”, he answered quietly and he knew that everyone else in the room was watching them, listening to their little conversation. His mum stretched out her arms and took Lucas into an embrace and Lucas allowed himself to let go for a moment, leaning against his mum. She knew that this was difficult for him, a young boy who wanted to conquer the whole world, his freedom taken away from him in an instance.

“I lost one son”, whispered his mum now and the pain, which always seemed to linger in the back of his heart, surfaced again, “I won’t lose another one just because I wasn’t careful enough.”

Lucas could only nod, swallowing against the big lump in his throat while trying to chase away the pain. He could feel the gaze from Eliott burning on his back and he separated from his mum, kissing her cheek.

“I will try my best to behave.”

Lucas’ mum smiled, ruffling her son’s hair.

“I know you will.”

Lucas smiled again while his gaze swept over to his father now.

“May I retreat?”

His father gave him a small and rare smile while nodding.

“You may.”

And without a second glance towards Eliott, he nearly ran out of the throne room, desperate to get some space between him and his new bodyguard who had been one of the hottest flirts he ever had just some hours ago.

“Hey!”

But there was no space in sight for him.

Lucas slowed down, coming to a halt and took a deep breath before turning around. Eliott was standing some steps away from Lucas, down the hallway, apparently out of breath because he tried to chase after Lucas’ quick steps. He looked like he just ran a hand through his hair which stuck out to every side of his hair. Lucas nearly let out a frustrated groan.

_Who the fuck allowed you to be this handsome? This doesn’t really make it easier for me._

“What is it?”, asked Lucas, surprised that his voice really sounded _that_ cold and annoyed. Eliott took a deep breath while coming closer to him. They were alone in that hallway but Lucas felt as if his every step, his every word would be watched from now on. Eliott came to a stop in front of him, Lucas leaning his head back a lot because he wasn’t able to look at the taller boy towering over him otherwise.

“It’s you”, said Eliott now, breaking the silence. Lucas huffed a laugh now, no humor in it though.

“It’s me, yeah. And it’s you.”

“I didn’t know you where the prince.”

“And I didn’t know you were supposed to be my watchdog.”

Eliott frowned at this. And Lucas took this chance to finally leave all of this, this whole scene, this whole Eliott-thing. This would definitely not end well. He didn’t want to have someone looking after him, but he could have maybe escaped an old and rusty man. But this… this was Eliott. The boy who had caught him off guard with his appearance and his whole being. The boy Lucas was ready to search the whole city for. And now… he was literally his enemy because Lucas didn’t need to be guarded. He had survived on his own for twenty years now and he would survive another twenty if he had to.

Lucas was just turning around again after Eliott apparently didn’t have anything to add as the other one caught his wrist, making Lucas stop in his movement while his eyes traveled down to where Eliott’s hand met his wrist. He felt his skin tingle on this place and he cursed his whole body for reacting like this. After all, this was a pure professional relationship.

No flirting, no feelings.

Professional.

Nothing more. Nothing less.

“I also didn’t want to do this”, started Eliott now, lowering his voice so that passing guards might no eavesdrop at their conversation, “I didn’t want to end up in the royal family. And yet here I am. And I will do my job, if you let me.”

No words about their night yesterday as if nothing had happened.

_Maybe he was so drunk that he forgot about everything._

And, Lucas thought, this would be for the better. So he would also pretend that nothing happened between them.

_P R O F E S S I O N A L._

Lucas started to smile now. But it was more like a twitching of his mouth, no warmth and kindness in it.

“It’s cute that you think I need to be guarded.”

“You were nearly killed. And your brother was.”

Lucas stared at him.

_How dares he to bring this up?_

But he found his composure again soon, trying to hide the pain about his brother’s dead behind a mask.

“Oh, the boy did his homework”, hissed Lucas while snapping his hand out of Eliott’s grip and turning on his heel, walking down the hallway towards the safety of his room. The safety of his room which wouldn’t be a safe place anymore since Eliott’s room would be right next to his.

“Someone is out there, trying to kill you”, called Eliott after him which made Lucas’ steps slow again. He stood with his back to Eliott, his shoulders slowly heaving while he tried to breathe normally again, “And if I can prevent this somehow, I will.”

Lucas now looked over his shoulder, directly into Eliott’s determined eyes, his jaw set.

_Fuck, why is he so pretty?_

“We’ll surely arrange ourselves quickly.”

Lucas turned around again, his mind wandering off once more to last night where all he felt was curiosity and something… new. Something so strong that he wanted to follow this pull, lose himself for just one night and live in the moment while he tried to find out what the new things he felt where about.

But this was never going to happen now.

_Because nothing happened in the first place. Your fucking romantic self made you believe things which weren’t there._

“We’ll see”, was all that Lucas answered before fleeing into the relatively safety of his room.

* * *

**lucallemant:** pls kill me

**basile_simple:** LULUUUU

**y4z4s:** how did it went mec?

**lucallemant:** I’m gonna throw myself off a cliff rn

**monvoisintuturo:** it cannot be THAT bad

**lucallemant:** you guys have NO FUCKING CLUE

**y4z4s:** okay tell us everything

**lucallemant:** he’s not old and rusty

**monvoisintuturo:** but… that’s great, isn’t it?

**basile_simple:** I thought we would hate old and rusty

**lucallemant:** yeah true

**y4z4s:** so, what’s the problem then? maybe, if he’s our age, he will give you more freedom than anyone else

**lucallemant:** idk how to survive all of this

**basile_simple:** stop torturing us, mec and just tell us e v e r y t h i n g

**monvoisintuturo:** this is a rare occasion where Basile is right

**y4z4s:** it cannot be that bad or…

**lucallemant:** IT’S ELIOTT, OKAY? MY NEW BODYGUARD IS FUCKING HOT ELIOTT

**monvoisintuturo:** wait

**basile_simple:** wait a fucking second

**y4z4s:** you’re kidding us, right?

**basile_simple:** are we… talking about the same Eliott here? disco eliott? dorky dance move Eliott?

**lucallemant:** disco eliott, dorky dance move eliott. BODYGUARD ELIOTT

**monvoisintuturo:** no fucking way

**basile_simple:** okay guys

**y4z4s:** I’m—

**basile_simple:** this is THE FUNNIEST THING I’VE EVER HEARD IN MY ENTIRE LIFE I’M ON THE FUCKING FLOOR BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

**lucallemant:** shut the fuck up, basile

**monvoisintuturo:** okay but you have to admit that this is REALLY fucking funny

**lucallemant:** this is not funny, this is a DISASTER

**y4z4s:** a funny disaster *cough*

**lucallemant:** blocked, all of you

**basile_simple:** I JUST IMAGINE THEM LIKE: HEY WE NEARLY MADE OUT BUT NOW I’M YOUR BODYGUARD HOW YOU DOIN’ BOY HAAHAHAHAHAHAH

**lucallemant:** I hate you all. Every single one of you

**monvoisintuturo:** and now?

**basile_simple:** AND WE THOUGHT OLD AND RUSTY WOULD BE TERRIBLE AHAHABAHAHAH

**lucallemant:** what ‘and now’?

**y4z4s:** what are you going to do now?

**lucallemant:** he is pretending like none of the things happened yesterday night so I will do the same

**basile_simple:** okay okay I calmed down hahahahahaa but elu should RISE

**lucallemant:** wtf basile

**basile_simple:** elu. your ship name. eliott and lucas

**lucallemant:** I’m a prince but I’m not dumb

**monvoisintuturo:** so you are… what? just going about your life with him as your bodyguard?

**lucallemant:** what else should I do?

**y4z4s:** oh boy

**basile_simple:** you are definitely so fucked.

**lucallemant:** tell me something I didn’t know already.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lucas is screwed, Eliott is screwed, EVERYONE IS SCREWED


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucas Lallemant, crown prince and heir to the throne, never needed someone to protect him. He never needed someone to protect him until the day he nearly got stabbed by an assassin.
> 
> Now he has to deal with an annoying bodyguard named Eliott Demaury who is, to the chagrin of Lucas, fucking handsome too.
> 
> As if his life isn’t difficult enough already.

The next days passed by in a blur and Lucas didn’t even know what to think or to feel anymore. He couldn’t deny that there were feelings, some kind of tension between him and Eliott. He couldn’t also deny that he often stared at his bodyguard whenever he was around or whenever he was in a meeting and Eliott was standing at the door like a shadow, his eyes always on Lucas, on his “job”.

On the one side, he wanted to spend time with Eliott. He wanted to know more about the mysterious boy who flirted so hard with him in this club and saved his ass from the cops. He wanted to get lost in his eyes and feel everything he felt in this little alley in the middle of the night again. He wanted to deepen the connection between them which was there from the beginning, a silent understanding lying between them.

But on the other side, he wanted to lock himself in his room, never needing to look at Eliott again and never even talk to anyone outside of his room anymore. At night, Lucas sometimes had the feeling of not being able to breath properly, the possibility to just disappear into the night was now so tiny that he didn’t dare to even try it. And every feeling of isolation and stolen freedom was projected towards Eliott, who actually couldn’t be blamed at all. But Lucas couldn’t think straight anymore and so he tried to turn every positive feeling he had towards Eliott into a negative one, blaming him for destroying his life and locking him up here in this golden castle, in this golden life.

And in the end, this was Eliott’s job. Nothing more, nothing less. He was there to protect Lucas and to show him how to survive in a world where more than one person wanted to see him dead.

One week passed and Lucas had only exchanged a few words with Eliott, the ones which were necessary. He was glad that Eliott, who now lived in a room directly connected to his own through a little hidden passage, couldn’t hear his thoughts where Lucas often contemplated about walking over to Eliott and ask him what all this flirting and teasing in that one night was about and if he really was that ice cold to just forget about it all. Lucas was never good at hiding his feelings or forgetting about things which were important to him. His dad always used to criticize this about him, that he was too invested into everything. And often, especially at night when he couldn’t sleep and the insomnia hit in, he just wanted to have someone to talk to. Eliott was, to Lucas’ chagrin, the only real connection to the outside world he currently had and well, he didn’t had a lot of people to talk to in the castle.

But maybe his heart also had to grow colder so he couldn’t get hurt again, so he could stop to care so much.

Lucas wasn’t sure where all of this would lead.

He only knew that he couldn’t turn off the feelings he had whenever Eliott was close to him.

* * *

Lucas was walking down the hallway, heading towards a fitting for a new suit, as he heard his little sister babbling something. Lucas’ lips formed into a smile. Whenever he was sad, he thought about the joy which his sister brought into his life. He rounded the corner, he still had some moments left before the fitting would start and opened the already slightly open door to a bright and big room.

But Cece was not alone.

Lucas’ jaw literally dropped.

He knew that Cece was already in love with Eliott.

But _this_ was something he didn’t expected.

“Lulu!”, said Cece, holding a teapot in her hand, ready to pour some tea in a little cup for one of her dolls which was seated on a tiny table. There was a doll with blonde hair and curls, like Cece had too, and a little teddy bear which belonged to Lucas a long time ago.

And then there was Eliott, crouched on his knees on the little table, his legs and his whole body looking way too big next to the little dolls and Cece. And he was blushing harder and harder with every passing second.

“Eliott and I are having a little tea party, would you like to join?”, asked his little sister innocently as if this would happen every day in his life and if Lucas hadn’t been this surprised, he would’ve laughed at the pure ridiculousness of all of this.

Eliott was having a little tea party with his little sister.

_What the actually fuck._

“I—I see”, was all that Lucas answered, still looking at Eliott who now stood up, his back straightening automatically and Lucas wished that he would’ve just stayed there, without all this formality. He hated it that everyone, except his family, treated him like he was some kind of rare animal. Yeah, he was the prince of this country. But he also was a normal human being, with just a bit of royal blood inside of him.

“Your – Your sister asked me to join her, she… literally begged me and I—I couldn’t say no, so…”

Eliott was stammering and damn, the red cheeks looked fucking cute on him.

_Shut the fuck up, brain._

Lucas nodded slowly, a little smirk on his lips now and he kind of enjoyed to see Eliott not being all bold and cold in this moment, that he actually had some kind of feelings and emotions inside of him.

“Nothing wrong about that”, said Lucas while lazily putting his hands inside the pockets of his sweatpants. Eliott lifted his head now, looking him up and down for a little second and Lucas could feel how his heart started to race and he cursed his body for reacting like this only because Eliott looked at him, maybe even checking him out. And Lucas wished that he would’ve dressed with a little more effort.

He made a mentally note to only walk around with his sweatpants in the dead of night from now on where no one would see him anymore.

And with no one he meant Eliott, of course.

“Well”, said Cece now, rising while she watched the both of them with a glint in her eyes as if she knew something Eliott and Lucas didn’t know until then. Cece walked straight towards Lucas now, crossing her tiny arms and laying her head back so she could look up to her taller brother, “If you don’t want to do something with him then I should at least invite him to have some kind of conversation. Otherwise, he would be so alone in this big castle and I know what I’m talking about.”

Lucas’ jaw dropped again for the second time today and he didn’t know when his little baby sister got this tough. He felt some pride rise inside of him at this realization but then the words hit him which were just slammed into his face. He bit his lips, doing this whenever he was kind of embarrassed, and his gaze wandered from his little sister to Eliott, who tore his eyes away from Lucas the moment their eyes locked.

Cece was right, as always.

Lucas acted like an asshole and only because he tried to hide some feelings. Only because he blamed Eliott for all the misery in his life when the only person who was to blame for this was the idiot who tried to kill Lucas in the first place. Eliott told him that he didn’t want to work for the royal family at all and it was selfish of Lucas to think that he liked being around Lucas who acted like the arrogant prince he was said to be in the newspapers and media.

He felt some kind of guilt wash over him, but he just ruffled Cece’s hair before turning around and leaving the room. He wasn’t good in handling strong feelings and emotions. And although he couldn’t hide them, he tried to push them down and farther down since the day he lost his brother and everything around him started to crumble. But he knew that he had to face them eventually.

And he also knew that he had to stop acting like an asshole.

Eliott didn’t want all of this, he didn’t ask for it. And maybe he hasn’t forgotten about their night and maybe he also felt the tension between them. And maybe he just tried to reject these feelings because it would get between him and his job.

And maybe it was good this way.

* * *

“Let’s get this over with, shall we?”

Lucas entered the training room, wearing sports gear, running both of his hands through his hair as he approaches Eliott who slightly stared for a moment. Lucas’ heart did an involuntarily jump and, yet again, Lucas cursed his body for reacting like this although he felt literally _nothing_ for Eliott.

Nothing at all.

Lucas felt nothing inside of him as he saw Eliott in a tight, white shirt with black trousers, his hair messier than ever.

Nope, nothing.

Eliott only nodded, the look of pure business returning to his face again. They decided, well, Lucas’ parents decided, to be honest, that it would be time now for Eliott to show Lucas some fighting skills. Eliott has been on court for over a week now and there had been no proper conversation or proper meeting between the two of them. This was the first time since that faithful night where Lucas was alone with Eliott and he didn’t know what to think of all of this.

“So, what are you going to show me now? How to punch someone? I think I can easily do this by my—”

Suddenly, Eliott literally jumped on him, turning Lucas around in one motion and holding Lucas’ arm on his back while a sharp pain took over Lucas’ whole body and he was unable to move or do anything else than breathing heavily. Lucas heard Eliott’s deep rumbling laugh on his ear and he had to resist the urge to lean into this laugh, into his body. Well, he had no problem resisting to do so, to be honest, because he was still fighting against Eliott so he would finally release him from this fucking death-trap.

“I’ll show you how to do this to your enemies when I’m not around.”

“I thought you would be around 24/7. I’m surprised that I’m not monitored when I’m taking a piss.”

He could hear Eliott breathing, his breath hitting Lucas’ exposed neck and Lucas shivered slightly at the closeness of their bodies.

“Well, we could change that”, whispered Eliott into Lucas’ ear and released him suddenly without a warning, sending Lucas tumbling down on his knees.

Well, this was embarrassing.

“Stand up”, said Eliott with a serious tone and Lucas gathered himself, standing opposite from Eliott in a short second. Eliott looked straight into Lucas’ eyes and he lifted his hands, an act of defence in his eyes.

“Alright, fight me.”

“What?”, asked Lucas, confusion in his voice. He didn’t know if Eliott was joking or if he really waited for Lucas, who was _way_ smaller, to fight him. Both of them knew that he could only lose this game.

“Fight me. Now. Show me what you got, your Highness. And no merci, please”, said Eliott, a smirk now on his face and, _oh damn_ , Lucas has always loved a good challenge. And Eliott looking at him like this, playfulness and anticipation in his eyes, he couldn’t resist to at least try it.

Lucas also moved into a fighting position, clenching his hands into fists, crouching down a bit. He kept looking at Eliott, holding eye contact with the sparkling gaze of the other one. And then, without a warning, a low sound escaped his throat and he hauled himself at Eliott, all fists and kicks.

Eliott told him to show no merci, so Lucas tackled Eliott on the ground after a little fight between the two of them, being smaller than Eliott but also faster than him because of his slim body.

Lucas grinned down on Eliott now and enjoyed the look of surprise on his bodyguard’s face. He used this moment to study his face, the high cheekbones and his strong jawline, the thick lashes framing beautiful eyes.

“I’m not as dumb as I look”, whispered Lucas out of breath, watching Eliott scan his own face. For a moment, he was distracted by the beauty of him.

And this was his biggest mistake.

Eliott was not unexperienced in fighting. Just as Lucas opened his mouth to speak again, maybe using the moment to clarify some things, Eliott rolled away from under Lucas and grabbed Lucas by the arm, pulling him down in a sudden motion instead. The air was pressed out of Lucas’ lungs for a moment and he tried to get Eliott off of him, but Eliott pressed his knees down on Lucas’ hips, holding his hands above his head. Lucas was breathless after some moments passed and Eliott just sat there, hovering over him, a triumphant smile on his lips as Lucas struggled against him.

“Lesson number 1: Never get distracted during a fight”, said Eliott quietly with a breathless voice while holding Lucas’ hands on the ground, his thumb laying on the thin skin on his wrist. Lucas’ smirked a bit, admitting that Eliott had way more experience in fighting than himself internally and that he maybe could really learn something from him.

He was just thinking about how fast all of this happened as Eliott’s fingers suddenly slowly stroked over Lucas’ skin. Lucas forgot how to breath as Eliott’s soft fingers left a trace on the skin of Lucas’ hand. Eliott kept looking into Lucas’ big, blue eyes, the fighting spirit completely changed for something else in his expression. Something soft. As if he forgot where he was and who he tackled on the ground and why in the first place. Lucas just realized how close they were, that he just had to lean in to be so fucking close to Eliott’s face that he could just kiss him and—

Suddenly, Eliott stood up again, leaving Lucas on the floor with confusion in his eyes while he could still feel the ghost of Eliott’s fingers on his skin. The moment was gone. Did he just imagine all of this happening or…

“I—I think we should take a break. Get some water and stuff”, mumbled Eliott, his back straight again and the smirky and deep, nearly sultry voice exchanged for his professional business one.

Lucas could only nod while sitting up, driving a hand through his hair. He really enjoyed the little bantering, the teasing between the two of them and that Eliott showed another side of him, more of the side Lucas saw in that dark alley, something passionate shining through the cold and hard shell. But at this point, where Eliott returned to his business side, Lucas was not sure if any of that even happened or if this was just some wild imagination where he thought that this fight was more about flirting and touching the other one than about real learning.

Eliott turned around, leaving the room to get some water. Usually, the royal had to accept the request of the “servant” wanting to leavd the room. But Eliott didn’t remember or didn’t care.

Lucas was left there on the floor, staring into the void.

For a moment, he thought that the business Eliott would finally melt away to show the real one. Or the real one was the business Eliott and the glimpse of Eliott Lucas caught that night was just a pretence.

In any way, Eliott wanted to keep up the business relationship between them. The nearly longing touch of Lucas’ hand, the feather light stroking, was just a… mistake. Some dream.

“I can do that”, mumbled Lucas to himself, wrapping his arms around his knees.

But he was not sure anymore at this point.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what… what is that smell? do i smell… SEXUAL TENSION IN THE AIR?
> 
> also: a big THANK YOU to @salutmonmec for bringing Cece to life and for the tea party idea - you rock bby!!!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucas Lallemant, crown prince and heir to the throne, never needed someone to protect him. He never needed someone to protect him until the day he nearly got stabbed by an assassin.
> 
> Now he has to deal with an annoying bodyguard named Eliott Demaury who is, to the chagrin of Lucas, fucking handsome too.
> 
> As if his life hasn‘t been difficult enough already.

Insomnia has been a bitch since the attack on Lucas’ life.

He had some problems with sleeping before all of that happened but from then on, Lucas didn’t got any sleep at all some nights.

Today was a night like this.

Lucas was laying in his bed, staring at the ceiling while his mind wouldn’t stop working. The fighting practise had been hours ago and he still thought about the way Eliott’s fingertips danced over his wrist and how much the expression of the other boy had changed in these tiny seconds. Lucas turned his head, facing the door to Eliott’s room now and he asked himself for the thousandth time if he should just knock on that door and walk into Eliott’s room, talking with him, asking him if he also felt more and more confused about his feelings with every passing day. Before the fighting practise, Lucas actually thought that he could handle his feelings, that he won some good distance between him and Eliott and that nothing of the emotions he felt before whenever he looked at Eliott had faded away to nothing.

And now there they were again.

Maybe they never disappeared in the first place.

Lucas groaned and sat up in the same moment as he heard a knock on the door. Lucas flinched, his head whipping around to the door. It was past midnight and he was not sure who would want to talk with him at this late hour. There were guards at his door and they would never let someone pass who would be a threat to him.

Right?

There was another knock and Lucas slowly lifted himself off the bed, walking towards the door. His paranoia, which got ten times worse after the attack, kicked in and he considered if it would be wise to just take the big, old candlestick from his window and use it as some kind of weapon in case someone wanted to hurt him.

Another knock.

“Lulu?”, asked a tiny and quiet voice and Lucas let out a deep breath.

_Of course._

He was at the door with some big strides and opened it, revealing his little sister in her long nightgown, holding a teddy close to her chest.

“Hey…”, said Lucas quietly and crouched down in front her, “Why are you not asleep, little princess?”

“I could ask you the same”, said Cece with a little smile and just moved in for a hug, wrapping her tiny arms around Lucas’ neck. Lucas smirked a bit, marvelling at the sassy answer he got from his sister and pride flooded his insides. Lucas picked Cece up, sitting her down on his hip and carrying her inside. He let her down on his bed where she curled into a little ball immediately while shifting close to her brother.

“You cannot sleep?”, asked Lucas quietly while looking down on his little sister.

Cece shook her head. “I don’t know… sleeping is difficult since… since that day”, said Cece quietly and looked up to Lucas. He smiled fondly at her, stroking her head full of golden curls. She was already beautiful now, she would turn heads and hearts when she was grown-up.

“I’m afraid, Lulu”, continued Cece quietly and pressed the teddy bear against her chest. Lucas laid down too, taking Cece in his arms.

“Why are you afraid?”, he asked although he probably knew the answer.

“I don’t want to lose you too”, said Cece in a hush and Lucas swallowed. He wanted to be a safe space for his sister but all he did now was causing her fears.

“But I’m having a bodyguard now. Nothing can happen to me”, said Lucas quietly and tried to fight the fear he felt himself off his voice. And although he didn’t like the idea of having a bodyguard in the first place, he knew that it was only for his safety. And he had to arrange himself with the feelings he felt for Eliott and try to fight them since they were only one-sided.

Cece nodded like the little warrior she was and snuggled into Lucas’ arms while looking up to him with her big ocean-blue eyes which resembled Lucas’ own so much.

“That’s true. But you don’t like Eliott.”

_I like him too much, little one._

“That’s not true”, said Lucas and poked her nose. Cece chuckled quietly but returned to a serious face immediately. It made Lucas smirk how much she tried to be professional and serious in this conversation.

“But you’re not treating him well although he would give his life for you.”

When did his little seven-year old sister turn so wise?

And the problem was: She was right. If Eliott wouldn’t be his bodyguard, maybe things would look completely different now. Maybe they would see each other every night when Lucas tried to sneak out, having a dangerous and passionate affair. But this was not the case and Lucas had to accept that.

“You’re right, Cece”, said Lucas now, sitting up again because Cece was already yawning, maybe ready to go to bed now, “I will try my best to come along with him, okay?”

“You promise?”

“I do.”

Lucas stood up and picked Cece up bridal style, holding her little body against his own while walking out of his room to bring his half-asleep sister to bed.

“Good”, answered Cece while her eyes fell shut. She snuggled against Lucas and Lucas thought that this was the end of their conversation. But just as he was about to lay her down on her own bed, Cece opened her eyes sleepily and looked at Lucas with a little smile.

“You know, I like Eliott. And I hope he won’t leave so soon again.”

Lucas smiled softly at this. He knew that Cece was already in love with Eliott and maybe she was not the only one.

Lucas kissed Cece’s forehead while tugging her in.

“Sleep well, little princess”, he whispered before slowly and quietly retreating into the empty hallway.

Lucas looked around and an idea formed in his mind.

No guards.

No Eliott.

This was maybe the only possibility he would have in months to sneak out and get some fresh night air, to clean his mind and sort through his thoughts.

“Only some moments”, he whispered to himself before he took off and nearly ran outside, using the hidden passages he always used to escape his life for just a little moment, for some minutes.

* * *

Lucas’ lips formed into a smile as the fresh night air hit his face. It had been a long, long time since he snuck out of the castle to take a walk in his city where everyone was already asleep. He would love to meet up with his friends now, to see them again and maybe go on one of their nightly adventures. But he knew that this was not possible and he also knew that he didn’t had a lot of time till Eliott or the guards would realize that Lucas was not in his room as he should be.

Lucas was still in the shadows of the castle but with a deep breath, he took some steps and was bathed in the bright moonlight, the city and its twinkling lights ahead of him. He just had to—

“Going for a walk?”

Lucas whirled around, his heart beating painfully fast against his ribs. And suddenly, a shadow loosened itself from the darkness surrounding the castle and Eliott stepped into the bright moonlight. Lucas jaw dropped as he saw him.

“How—”

“Did you really think I’m such a loser bodyguard?”

The little smirk on Eliott’s lips made Lucas’ heart jump and drop to the same time. Of course he didn’t think of Eliott as some kind of bad bodyguard but not even his guards, who had been here for years, knew about the hidden passageways Lucas used to sneak out. And Eliott, who had been here for merely two weeks, already could tell when Lucas wanted to escape.

Lucas looked down, grateful, that Eliott couldn’t see his flushed cheeks in the darkness. He heard the steps of the other one coming towards him and as he lifted his head, he took Eliott in for the first time this night. He was only wearing a plain white shirt and black sweatpants and although he always looked fucking good in his daily suits, Lucas maybe liked this look on him even more – it made Eliott more real, more… normal.

It made Eliott more accessible to Lucas.

“I’m not dumb, your highness”, said Eliott with the little smirk as he was standing in front of Lucas now, looking down at him. And Lucas couldn’t resist to return the smile.

Because secretly, he admired the cleverness of this boy.

And he also admired the way the atmosphere between them was way more light in the darkness of the night. He promised Cece to get along with him and maybe he could start with that now. He would have been pissed with every bodyguard he would get and yeah, he was even more pissed that it was Eliott who acted like nothing happened between them that night. But this meant that Lucas could act like an idiot and be angry with him for the rest of their lives because Eliott did his job.

And he felt that something was different about Eliott in the dark of the night now. And he wanted to know what it was.

“Care to take a walk with me?”, asked Lucas now and he was literally surprised by himself that he even asked such a thing. He could’ve darted away from Eliott and although he was clever, he wouldn’t find Lucas immediately in the tight maze of their city. But Lucas didn’t want to run away from Eliott.

He wanted to run away _with_ him.

He wanted to explore the other Eliott, the Eliott he glimpsed in the little alleyway that night.

Eliott puts his hands lazily in the pockets from his trousers and nodded.

“Where you go, I go too.”

This could have been cheesy romantic under different circumstances.

Lucas led the way, Eliott next to him. They were walking in silence for some minutes, Lucas enjoying the night and how the knot in his chest seemed to loosen because of the small freedom he was experiencing and the fresh air he was filling his lungs with.

“You couldn’t sleep?”

Lucas nearly jumped as Eliott broke the silence between them so suddenly and he looked up to Eliott. He was taking in the city lights around them, walking close to Lucas as if every passing human being could be a threat to Lucas.

Which was the case.

Lucas looked down again, putting his hands in the pockets of his trousers now too.

“I cannot sleep really well after the attack. Paranoia and insomnia will be the death of me someday.”

“I know what you’re talking about”, said Eliott now quietly and leaned his head back, looking up at the thousands of stars twinkling above them.

Lucas frowned and turned his head to look at Lucas, waiting for an explanation.

“I cannot sleep well myself either”, continued Eliott after some seconds passed in silence, “But I got used to it. Nights were I can sleep are rare but I cherish them even more.”

Lucas didn’t feel in the position to ask him why he wasn’t sleeping well so he just let the subject slide.

“I—” Lucas started and Eliott turned his head, waiting for him to continue. This was maybe Lucas’ only chance to talk with Eliott about the night where Eliott already saved Lucas’ ass before he was even his assigned bodyguard. And Lucas had no idea how to start a conversation about this sensible topic.

“I just wanted to say thank you. Again. For rescuing me from the police back then.”

Lucas looked over to Eliott and saw some light dance behind his eyes as he mentioned that night.

_He is not fully apathetic about it. That’s good._

“No problem”, said Eliott honestly and looked down to Lucas now, a smirk playing on his lips, “I really enjoyed it.”

Lucas’ heart was dancing around at these words. The business Eliott was gone, fully gone now. And he saw the Eliott he met at the club and the alley again. The Eliott which wouldn’t leave his mind after all the hours which had gone by after their first encounter.

“I enjoyed it, too.”

_Please don’t let this night ever end._

But they were already back on their way to the castle.

Lucas felt something like hope spark inside of him. He was not sure what this feeling was about but he was sure that he wanted to see more of the Eliott he just glimpsed again.

“And… And I’m sorry. For being such an idiot to you”, continued Lucas, “You’re only making your job, I know. It’s just—”

“I know.”

Eliott interrupted Lucas and they stopped in front of the castle, in the shadows of his home. The time outside had been way too short but Lucas understood that Eliott was responsible for him and his safety and that long walks were kind of forbidden.

“You know?”

“Yeah.” Eliott was running a hand through his messy hair. “It must be… hard for you. Hard to be a royal and hard to be someone who has to be afraid that he’ll get killed any moment. You’re young, we all want our freedom and I’m sorry that I’m limiting yours.”

“You’re not—”

“I am and don’t try to deny it.”

Eliott suddenly took a steep towards Lucas and something like resistance was falling away from Eliott’s face. As if he tried to fight something inside him and decided to surrender now.

Lucas was not sure what all of this meant but he was sure that Eliott and the whole world could hear his heartbeat.

“I also wished for a different… start between us”, whispered Eliott now and Lucas held his breathe unknowingly, “I also wished that things were different between us. But I cannot change it and you cannot change it, too.”

Lucas would have never guessed that this night would take such a turn. Eliott admitted that he didn’t forgot about the night and the feelings between them. And he also admitted that all of this was bullshit and unfair.

It made Lucas’ heart sing.

All the intentions of rejecting the feelings he had for Eliott where forgotten now, hope was sparking his insides like a flame and he wanted to explore these feelings more, take more steps in the wrong and, to the same time, right direction.

Lucas only nodded and found himself reaching for Eliott’s hand. But he was already turning away, leading the way now while both of them were going back up to Lucas’ room, using the hidden passageways so the guards wouldn’t see or hear them.

Lucas was in thoughts and Eliott was too.

But this didn’t stop Lucas from asking one last question as they stopped in front of Lucas’ hidden door.

“Eliott”, said Lucas and reached for his arm just as the other one was about to turn around and return to his own room. Eliott looked down on Lucas’ hand, not moving an inch away from Lucas and his grip.

“There… there is this masquerade soon. For my mum’s birthday”, said Lucas quietly into the silence between them, “Will you come, too?” His parents told Eliott that he didn’t had to come for the masquerade, a lot of guards would be there to protect them all and Eliott was allowed to have some free days. But Lucas wanted him to come. And not to secure his safety.

Eliott turned around now, looking so deeply into Lucas’ eyes that Lucas had the feeling, Eliott could look straight into his soul.

“I will surely be around”, said Eliott quietly, a smile breaking out onto his lips. They both looked at each other for several more moments before Eliott turned around and disappeared into the darkness of the hidden passageway.

Lucas opened the door to his room quietly, falling down on his bed with a deep sigh while his gaze was returning to the door which connected his and Eliott’s room.

Lucas’ lips turned into a smile.

Something changed between them tonight.

And Lucas would not back down and go back to the business style between them, no matter how wrong or forbidden it was.

He would listen to his heart for once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #bonding on every level


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucas Lallemant, crown prince and heir to the throne, never needed someone to protect him. He never needed someone to protect him until the day he nearly got stabbed by an assassin.
> 
> Now he has to deal with an annoying bodyguard named Eliott Demaury who is, to the chagrin of Lucas, fucking handsome too.
> 
> As if his life hasn‘t been difficult enough already.

Over the next two weeks, nightly walks became their thing. Lucas didn’t bother to hide his little escapes from Eliott anymore, he _wanted_ his bodyguard to know that he left the castle for some precious moments of freedom outside the castle. And if he wasn’t allowed to do this alone, he would drag Eliott with him gladly.

And Eliott seemed to be delighted by it too.

Lucas talked most of the time in the beginning but slowly but surely, something like a friendship developed between them. Eliott opened up, told Lucas about his big brother and how much he wished that he could see him more often. But he was in the army and Eliott was afraid at every waking hour for his big brother to whom he looked up to so much.

“Jacques was one of the reasons why I wanted to be a bodyguard in the first place”, told Eliott Lucas on one of their nightly walks, “I… I also wanted to be brave. To do something that could maybe save a life. That could maybe make an impact how history is written. And although I wouldn’t be the spotlight of this history, I wanted to be part of it, at least…”

And in this moment, Lucas fell in love.

He didn’t want to admit it but the feelings for Eliott had developed more and more over their walks in the middle of the night, where just him and Eliott seemed to be on this planet, where time stood still and only the two of them were moving, two young men who couldn’t be more different from each other.

Lucas had stopped in his tracks and turned around to Eliott after he told him all of this and reacting without thinking, he took hold of Eliott’s hand, the other one looking deeply into Lucas’ ocean-blue eyes.

“You will be in the spotlight. You already are. For me, at least”, Lucas had whispered and Eliott’s lips formed slowly into a smile.

After this night, things were different.

Lucas had the feeling that not only he felt different, that not only he was surer of his feelings but also Eliott. Lucas had the feeling that Eliott actually sought Lucas out to be near him, to spend time with him and not only because his job description said so. And for the first time, Lucas not only felt like a prince but he felt _seen._ He felt like Eliott could look behind the royal mask of him, that he genuinely cared about Lucas and what he thought and how he felt. Eliott was more than a bodyguard for Lucas after this faithful night where Eliott opened up to him.

He was maybe even more than a friend.

And not only Lucas was happy about this development: Cece was probably the one who profited the most from Lucas’ and Eliott’s upgraded friendship – she had now two people to have a tea party with and Eliott’s laugh whenever they were together with Cece was his highlight of every single day. Eliott seemed to shine brighter than the first weeks of his stay in the castle and Lucas often told himself that maybe he was the reason for his bright smile.

At least he hoped so.

“So, what are you going to do in your free time without the little brat aka me to protect?”

Lucas grinned from the couch where he lay lazily, looking over to Eliott who lounged in a comfortable chair, his tie lose and his suit jacket over the arm rest. This was Lucas’ favourite sight of Eliott – him being relaxed, forgetting about his job for a moment and the both of them just being boys, joking around and laughing.

Eliott laughed and leaned his head back, considering Lucas’ question. Eliott would leave for a little holiday with his parents and his brother tomorrow and Lucas would miss him terribly. He would get some old guard at his side for these few days.

“I’ll have so fucking much time without you commanding me around the whole day”, said Eliott with a grin eventually and Lucas sat up, playful indignation on his face.

“How dare you to speak to your prince like this?”, said Lucas with a played serious tone and Eliott tried to hide the smile on his lips, playing along with Lucas and his little game which he loved to play. All the formalities between them were forgotten whenever they were alone and this was Lucas’ favourite thing about it all – feeling normal without being reminded that he will inherit the throne of his country soon.

“Oh, I beg your pardon, your highness. Please don’t hang me in front of the whole court!”

Lucas laughed and leaned back again, turning his head and tried to memorise Eliott’s face and his laugh so that he could replay it whenever he wanted when Eliott wasn’t around. It was strange how accustomed you could become to someone in such a short time.

“No, but seriously. I will have a lot time to read a book, to talk with my brother till the morning hours, updating each other on the life of the other one and just… enjoy some family time.”

Lucas smiled and nodded, looking at the ceiling now. He didn’t know when he had read the last book or when he had the last family centred holiday and just as Eliott talked about all of this, he realized that he kind of missed it.

“And you?”

Eliott’s voice dragged Lucas out of his thoughts and he looked at Eliott again.

“And me?”

“What will you do without me?”

_This is actually a very good question._

“Oh, you know. The princely duties, the masquerade—”

Lucas halted and sat up, looking directly into Eliott’s irritatingly beautiful eyes.

“You’ll be back for the masquerade, right?”

“I’m trying my best.”

“Your best?”

“I’m not sure yet, I—”

“Please, Eliott.”

Lucas stood up now, walking over to Eliott and sitting down on his armrest. They were so close now that Lucas could feel the heat of Eliott’s body radiating off him and Lucas was not sure if the closeness between them was so good right now because Lucas’ thoughts drifted off into a dangerous direction.

“Promise me, that you’ll be there. I cannot do this without you.”

This was another fact that came with their bonding: Lucas kind of felt unsafe without Eliott by his side. Eliott had been there for nearly a month now, always a shadow behind Lucas or next to him, his presence always there and making Lucas feel safe. Safer than in weeks. He knew that no danger could reach him with Eliott by his side. The masquerade would be guarded to the teeth but the anxiety which came with such a big event could only be calmed by Eliott or his little sister.

_It’s unbelievable how much I need him._

Eliott looked up to Lucas and laid a hand on Lucas’.

“I’m trying. I really will. Okay?”

Eliott smiled and Lucas couldn’t resist this smile.

“Okay.”

* * *

It was the evening of the masquerade and Lucas was walking around in his room like a caged tiger.

“Your highness, would you please stand still for a moment?”, asked his dresser and he couldn’t blame the slightly annoyed undertone in her voice. He had been acting like this for the past few hours and when Lucas looked out and saw how many guests already spilled into the castle, he felt sick.

Eliott wasn’t here.

“Could I—Could I have five minutes, please?”

The dresser nodded with a sigh and curtsied.

“But we really need to hurry then, your highness.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

And with this, the dresser left his room. Lucas pulled out his phone and opened the chat between him and Eliott.

**lucallemant:** where tf are you?

**lucallemant:** eliott pls

**lucallemant:** I need you

**srodulv:** I’m sorry, I cannot make it

Lucas stared at the display, his eyes suddenly burning.

**lucallemant:** what

**srodulv:** my flight was cancelled and the next one is leaving tomorrow morning

**lucallemant:** you’re kidding me, get your ass here

**srodulv:** I’m not kidding. Please forgive me.

He was not kidding. Lucas could feel it. And although he shouldn’t be angry at Eliott, he was. Eliott knew how unsafe Lucas felt without him and Lucas had hoped that he at least could sneak away with Eliott and maybe dance in secret with him and—

Lucas took a deep breath and looked into the long mirror in front of him.

“I am Prince Lucas Charles Louis Alexandre Lallemant. And I can do everything.”

He would smile tonight. He would dance and he would have fun.

Lucas put on his mask, a delicate half-faced thing in black covered with velvet.

And he wouldn’t think about Eliott.

* * *

A servant was booming the golden stick against the polished marble floor and thousand of masked faces turned around to that sound. The big hall was decorated with white flowers, the queen’s favourites, and the air smelled like candles, sweet honey from the buffet and… mystery.

“Your majesty, King Alexandre Antoine Raphael Lallemant, his wife, Queen Adalene Celeste Claudette Lallemant, their daughter Princess Cecille Estelle Camille Lallemant and their son, Prince Lucas Charles Louis Alexandre Lallemant.”

Lucas automatically straightened as his name was called into the room and echoed back against the high walls. His father and his mother started to move and so did Lucas and Cece. They floated down the stairs and into the crowd of aristocracy and royalty. Lucas actually hated the silence whenever they entered a room, hated the eyes of so many people on him and the feeling of tripping every second. With Eliott by his side, he would feel surer, better.

_You didn’t want to think about him tonight. You survived so long on your own. You can also do it again for one night._

And finally, the music was setting in again and the murmuring of people filled the room. His parents were off to some important people and Lucas took a deep breath. He was kind of glad for all the masks around him, no one could have seen the panic in his eyes and he was very happy about this.

“I really like your mask, Lulu.”

Lucas nearly forgot about his little sister next to him but as she addressed him, a smile spread on his lips. He kneeled down to be on eye-level with her. Today, she was wearing a lilac dress with puffy sleeves and a little tiara was seated on the curls of her blonde locks. She was wearing a tiny fragile mask which only covered the upper half of her face and she looked absolutely adorable. She wasn’t allowed to be that long on the ball but she had begged their mum so long till she agreed to let her go, at least for two hours.

“And I like yours, little princess. You look stunning tonight.”

Cece beamed at Lucas’ words.

“And you look very good, too.”

Lucas knew that Cece meant everything she said and it made him happy to hear his little sister say that. But, today, he had to admit that he really do looked good. He was wearing a burgundy coloured suit which was only made for him and therefor fitted him perfectly. The black mask was colour-coordinated to his black tie and although the outfit was quite simple, it did his effect as Lucas realized that some young women, and young men, turned their head towards him, maybe waiting for Lucas to come over or waiting for the perfect moment to ask him out for a dance.

“Okay, little one”, said Lucas now and turned to look at Cece again. He poked her in the chest, “Don’t eat too much cake, don’t trip on the dresses of other women and please, don’t spill any limo on the marble floor. Mum and dad would be furious.”

Cece giggled and nodded.

“Okay, gotcha.”

And with that, she disappeared between all the people and Lucas lost sight of her. A smile was still playing around his lips and his thoughts slowly drifted back to Eliott, as suddenly something caught his attention in the corner of his eyes.

He turned around and froze.

Someone was coming late and that someone had the attention of the whole court.

Which maybe could be connected to how fucking stunning he looked.

He was wearing a midnight blue suit and a mask which covered his eyes and left his full and smooth lips open where a little smirk was plastered. He was walking down the stairs with the grace of a king and he was wearing a little cape, attached to his suit and coloured in the same midnight blue. His mask, in stark contrast, was white.

And Lucas was totally mesmerized.

He gaped at him with all the others who started to murmur who this could be and why he was late and where he got that exclusive suit. Lucas tore his gaze away for a moment and looked for his parents and Cece but he couldn’t find them.

And because no one dared to walk over to him, Lucas used his status and his chance to weave through the crowd till he stood in front of the stranger. The taller boy sank into an elegant bow and Lucas’ heart automatically started to beat faster.

Which it actually only did around Eliott.

“Your highness”, said the young man quietly and Lucas motioned him to stand up again so he could get lost in his eyes. But the shadow of his mask kind of hid the real colour and Lucas could only see the slight gleam in them. But that was enough for him now.

“With whom I’m having the pleasure to meet with on this masquerade?”, asked Lucas quietly, his voice slightly hoarse. He had the feeling that every single eye pair where on them, even the music had stopped, but the funniest thing was: He didn’t care right now. He suddenly felt sure and safe again and that only because this breath-taking stranger walked into this masquerade and suddenly made Lucas’ evening far more interesting.

The stranger leaned closer to Lucas and Lucas stood still, waiting.

“If I’m telling you my name, then the mystery would be solved and this isn’t the sense of a masquerade, right?”

Lucas smirked and looked into the eyes of the other one while nodding.

“That’s true”, said Lucas while slowly holding out his hand, “Would you dance with me?”

The stranger laid his hand into Lucas’ own and Lucas felt a jolt go through his body, the music was silently playing again in the background.

“It would be a pleasure.”

And so Lucas led them both in the middle of the room and they danced.

And danced.

And danced.

Lucas lost count of how many dances he only did with him. Anyone else who wanted to dance with him was met with an excuse so that Lucas could dance another round with the stranger. They didn’t talk much but that was actually not necessary in the first place. Their touches and their gazes spoke more than thousand words. Lucas was nearly forced by his dad to dance with some other people but he eventually always came back to his mysterious stranger.

As the night wore on and the first people already left, Lucas saw his chance to be alone with him. He took hold of his hand and pulled him out of the hall, into the hallway and towards one of their hundred balconies. Lucas opened the doors and was met with fresh night air. He breathed the air in and looked over his shoulder, smiling at the stranger and indicating him to follow him. Lucas leaned against the balcony parapet, looking down over the palace garden where he took so many walks with Eliott and…

No, he wouldn’t think about Eliott again.

Not when he was here with a beautiful stranger who seemed to be interested in him. And who would maybe be more available to him than Eliott.

“The view his breath-taking”, said the stranger silently now and Lucas watched him from the side, his strong jaw and his profile. He wondered if he was some duke or some lord or even a prince from another country. But his French was perfect, without any accent. He wouldn’t solve this mystery tonight but he was determined to solve it any other day.

“Yeah, it is… I often come here to take a breath between some nightly events here in the castle.”

“I can relate. It must be hard for you.”

Lucas turned around now, leaning against the parapet with his back now and watched the other one carefully.

“Sometimes. But then there are nights like tonight where…”

Lucas had stopped and the other one, of course, realized that.

“Where?”, asked the stranger and his gaze was now landing on Lucas. Lucas bit his lip and couldn’t tore away his gaze from the man in front of him who was literally dipped into the moonlight from above.

“Where I’m meeting special people. Like you”, said Lucas and his voice got quieter with every word till his voice was barely audible, barely a whisper.

The other one started to smile and took another step towards Lucas till he was nearly pressed again the parapet and the tall man in front of him.

“Like me…?”

“Like you…”

Lucas couldn’t calm down his beating heart. He usually was someone who thought a lot about things before doing them. But right now… He only wanted to do one thing. He had the feeling to know this man, to know his secrets and his dreams although Lucas didn’t even know his name. But something about him was achingly familiar.

He felt good around him.

Like he only felt with Eliott.

Lucas tiptoed, his eyes on the lips of the other one.

His heart was nearly jumping out of his chest and he could feel the breath of the stranger on his lips and then their lips nearly brushed and—

“I’m sorry.”

Lucas’ eyes snapped open and he saw how the other one was withdrawing from Lucas, disappearing slowly but surely into the darkness of the hallway, “You deserve better.”

And suddenly, he was gone.

Lucas was frozen but after some seconds, he realized what had happened. He was gone and when Lucas wouldn’t chase after him right now, he would never know his name and never see him again.

“Wait!”, Lucas called out and stumbled after him.

But the hallway was empty.

As if nothing happened.

Lucas blinked, suddenly feeling dizzy.

Maybe none of this happened.

Maybe everything had been a dream.

But if so, it had been a wonderful one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lucas with a suit and a mask? hot stuff right there


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucas Lallemant, crown prince and heir to the throne, never needed someone to protect him. He never needed someone to protect him until the day he nearly got stabbed by an assassin.
> 
> Now he has to deal with an annoying bodyguard named Eliott Demaury who is, to the chagrin of Lucas, fucking handsome too.
> 
> As if his life hasn‘t been difficult enough already.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: anxiety, mental health

Lucas nearly jumped out of bed the next day as he heard something next to his door inside the room of Eliott.

He was finally back.

And Lucas’ thoughts automatically drifted back to the mysterious man last night and he suddenly felt like he betrayed Eliott. Lucas couldn’t deny that there had been something between them, something big and deep and he… he just went off and nearly kissed someone else.

But why did it feel so good to be close to the other man and to dance with him?

Why did it feel so familiar?

And why didn’t he even think about Eliott for one moment?

Lucas had stopped in his tracks on his way to Eliott’s door as all the thoughts drifted in and out. But he tried to shove that aside for now – all that mattered was that Eliott was back and that Lucas had to speak some hard words with the other one since he wasn’t there when he promised he would.

Lucas was still in his pyjamas as he knocked on Eliott’s door, bouncing on his heels while his heart started to beat faster. He didn’t know that he’d missed the other boy _that much_. But his beating heart apparently knew. Lucas heard footsteps coming closer and his mouth turned into a smile as Eliott opened the door, looking adorable as ever with his messy hair and his little smirk.

“Hey, stranger”, said Lucas and without any second thought, he went on his tipsy-toes and hugged Eliott. Eliott’s body erupted with laughter and he cupped Lucas in his strong arms, holding him and—was he breathing Lucas in? Lucas smiled at this thought, at this intimacy of the both of them and his eyes were looking around Eliott’s room randomly while they hugged and his head was laying on Eliott’s shoulder.

Lucas’ heart stopped to beat for a second as his eyes fell on something.

_No. fucking. Way._

There was a mask on Eliott’s nightstand. A snow-white mask.

But not any mask.

It was _the_ mask.

The mask from the mysterious young man who just disappeared and seemed like a dream to Lucas.

And suddenly, everything made sense: the familiarity of their closeness, the positive anxiety Lucas felt whenever they touched, his thoughts not returning to Eliott for one night.

Because the mysterious man _was_ Eliott.

Lucas’ jaw literally dropped as Eliott slowly pulled away from their embrace.

_I nearly kissed Eliott. He wasn’t there with me because he –_

“Everything okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Lucas laughed nervously and without meaning to, he answered: “Yeah, kind of.”

Eliott raised his eyebrows in confusing and Lucas had the urge to yell at him and to kiss him to the same time. Why did he do this? To be equal to Lucas for once? To be near him without any suspicious looks? Or just to play with his heart and to see if he would be loyal to Eliott himself? If so, Lucas had failed triumphantly on every level. But did he, actually? Because he had been loyal to Eliott – it was Eliott, after all, who pretended to be that mysterious stranger and Lucas’ heart apparently knew about this all along.

“Do you… want to talk about it?”

Lucas snapped out of his thoughts as Eliott addressed him again and he just shook his head violently, his messy hair being all over the place after doing so.

“No… No, I mean… Where were you yesterday?”

Lucas wanted to give Eliott the opportunity to come clean after all of this, to tell Lucas the truth and maybe even the reason why he did it.

“I was stuck on the airport, I told you so”, answered Eliott without any hint of him lying.

But Lucas knew better.

Lucas squinted his eyes slightly, trying to get something out of the other boy without Lucas forcing him to do so. Eliott misinterpreted that look and rubbed his neck nervously, looking down and like a guilty puppy.

“I’m sorry, Lucas, okay? I know how much events like this can be for you and—and just know, that I was there in my mind with you all along.”

_Not only with your mind, darling. Your hands where nearly on my ass._

But Lucas realized that this would lead to nothing. He wouldn’t force Eliott to say something about all of this – he would tell him eventually, that was sure for Lucas. And he also knew that Eliott had his reasons to do this and to decidedly not tell it to Lucas just now.

Lucas was just happy for now that he knew and that he didn’t have to feel guilty towards Eliott anymore because he was so happy in the arms of someone else. And it only made Lucas even surer of his feelings towards Eliott which are totally not okay.

* * *

But Lucas mood immediately went done after this. He stormed into his room, where Eliott was laying on the couch and slammed the door behind him. Shortly after this revealing talk between him and Eliott, his parents ordered him into the throne room to talk with him.

To talk with him about marriage.

They’d ask him if he found someone on the masquerade, some girl, or boy, he would like to marry soon. And Lucas nearly fainted. He was nearly 21 and yeah, he knew that he had to marry eventually to secure the throne and so on and so forth – but he didn’t know that his parents were already looking for someone. Just as his parents spoke these words out loud, Lucas’ thoughts had drifted to Eliott and he nearly laughed at himself. Yeah, he found someone on that masquerade.

_And oh, by the way, this someone was my bodyguard in disguise. And oh yeah, I fell in love with my bodyguard, cool right?_

Ugh.

The conversation between him and his parents escalated to that point, where his father yelles at him, demanding for Lucas to be all grown-up and to find out who the stranger from the masquerade was. But Lucas would never, ever speak out Eliott’s secret to the whole world. Although the press is full of pictures from him dancing with Eliott-in-disguise.

Eliott nearly jumped up in surprise but Lucas was already falling down on his bed, dramatically throwing one arm over his eyes and blurring out the screaming voices in his head.

“Your dad?”

“Ugh”, groaned Lucas as answer and turned his head to Eliott, taking his arm away so he could look at him.

“He wants me to marry. That was the sense of that whole masquerade – to find someone for me.”

Eliott was silent for some moments. He sat up, elbows on his knees and watched Lucas.

“And… and did you find someone?”

“Does it even matter?”, said Lucas out loud now and sat up, too, “I’m young, Eliott. Too young. I—I don’t even know how to lead a kingdom and I don’t even know if I ever want to marry.”

“Why not?”

“Because the person who I maybe would consider marrying is out of my reach!”

Silence settled between them where Lucas was just staring at Eliott, his breaths coming fast and heavy.

_Did I really—_

Lucas mentally slapped himself. Once, twice, a hundred times.

Eliott just opened his mouth to reply, looking equally shock as Lucas. But Lucas was not ready for this talk yet. He stood up and started pacing around the room. He suddenly felt like he couldn’t breath properly anymore. This marriage thing made him feel even more caged in this castle and inside his life than he already felt before. He needed air, some change of scenery. Just... some distraction from all the confusing things in his life.

“I need to get out of here”, whispered Lucas now while pulling his hair. Eliott seemed to sense the anxiety and how it took over Lucas’ body because he jumped up and brought Lucas’ phone to him. He pressed it into Lucas’ hand and looked him in the eyes.

“Message your friends. You’ll meet up with them officially and I’ll be your bodyguard for this meeting. I will speak with the security and arrange everything.”

Lucas only could nod. Eliott knew exactly what he needed right now and he was very thankful for that.

“Okay?”

“Okay”, said Lucas quietly, his voice thin from all the anxiety bottled up in his body. Eliott nodded again and nearly ran out of the room to make all the arrangements which were necessary for Lucas to get out of this god forsaken castle.

* * *

**lucallemant:** someone out there?

 **basile_simple:** always mec

 **monvoisintuturo:** what’s up?

 **y4z4s:** everything okay?

 **lucallemant:** yes. no. doesn’t matter – I need to see y’all

 **basile_simple:** okay where and when?

 **y4z4s:** should we pick you up?

 **lucallemant:** no, eliott is coming with me. and how about… as soon as possible?

 **monvoisintuturo:** same coffeeshop as always?

 **basile_simple:** omg yes I miss our times there

 **lucallemant:** me too, basile, me too

 **y4z4s:** we’ll be there as soon as possible, waiting for you

 **lucallemant:** thank you, guys <3

* * *

Lucas felt like he could breath again as Eliott was leading him through the long hallways. The perspective to see his friends again in only some minutes made everything look lighter and easier. Lucas wore a sweater burrowed from Eliott and maybe this was also why he felt safer. The hood was covering his face so that the few paparazzi who would maybe cross their ways wouldn’t know that the prince had just walked past them.

Eliott was opening the door while Lucas messaged his friends, telling them, that he was on his way now. Lucas had been following Eliott blindly as the other stopped short after some steps.

“Holy shit”, whispered Eliott and just as Lucas lifted his head to see what the delay was about, he was blinded by thousands of flashlights going off.

There were not a few paparazzi.

There were hundreds of them.

“Prince Lucas, who was that mysterious boy you’ve danced with yesterday night?”

“Is this your new lover?”

“Do you have problems with alcohol, your highness?”

“Will you tell us more about the stranger? Is he maybe a callboy?”

Lucas was suddenly inside of that crowd and he felt how panic made his breath uneven. He turned around and saw no escape for himself. The people came closer and closer, screaming their questions about Lucas and the boy he’d spend the last night dancing with.

Even if he wanted to answer, he wouldn’t do it. Because he didn’t want to reveal the sweet secret he was carrying with him and he also didn’t want to put Eliott in the middle of their interest.

But where was Eliott?

Lucas tried to step away from these people who were far too close to him by now. They were pulling on the sleeve of his sweater, they were trying to get hold of him and Lucas felt like his whole skin was prickling and all he wanted was to curl into a ball and get out of here. The panic inside him grew with every passing second and he felt the prickling of tears in his eyes.

“Eliott!”, screamed Lucas now, his voice breaking while the paparazzi screamed his name, demanding answers. Some guards where now running to their aid and suddenly, Lucas felt how someone was pulling him into their arms.

“I’m here”, whispered Eliott into his ear, holding him tightly and screaming at each and everyone who was in their way.

“Keep breathing, Lucas. Keep breathing. I’ll protect you.”

And Lucas tried. He pressed himself against Eliott and walked with him into the direction he was shoved in. Everything passed him in a blur and he could only hear his loud heartbeat and the blood rushing through his veins. His privacy had never been attacked like this and every flash from the cameras made him think of the flashing from the knife which nearly had been buried inside of him.

“Only some more meters. You’re doing great”, murmured Eliott and screamed at some man to step the fuck away. And finally, the door shut behind them and the quietness and safety of the castle wrapped itself around Lucas.

Lucas let out a gasp and fell down to his knees. He was fighting for air, burying his hands in the carpet under him while he tried to fight the wave of anxiety and panic which still seemed to crash over him again and again. Eliott was right beside him and pulled Lucas into his strong and big arms, holding him there. And Lucas… Lucas let go. The tears where now rolling down his cheeks and he shivered the whole time while Eliott spoke soothing words, telling him that it’s okay.

Lucas could’ve died out there. He felt like the people crushed him with their words and their touches and all he wanted was to be normal and meet up with his friends like every other boy would do too.

But he was not normal.

He was the prince.

He would never life a normal life. And that was clearer to him now than ever.

Lucas realized through a blur that his parents and Cece where running towards him, kneeling down next to him and Eliott. But when they tried to touch him, Lucas would wince away and burry himself more in Eliott’s arms. He didn’t want to speak, he didn’t want to be comforted. He just wanted to stay in Eliott’s arms without talking or without having to explain himself. Eliott said something to his parents which Lucas didn’t get but they slowly retreated, his mum leaving a kiss on his forehead.

“Can you walk?”, asked Eliott after some seconds passed and Lucas shook his head. His legs felt like pudding and he just wanted to sleep.

“Okay, then I’m going to carry you.”

And with that, Eliott stood and picked Lucas up, carrying him bridal style through the quiet and empty hallways. Lucas snuggled against Eliott.

“I would’ve died without you.”

“That’s not true.”

“Yes, it is.”

Eliott didn’t answer to that anymore and Lucas slowly drifted away, surrounded by the warmth of Eliott and the safety of his arms.

* * *

**srodulv:** hey, this is eliott

 **basile_simple:** hey man

 **y4z4s:** do you know where lucas is? we’re getting worried

 **srodulv:** he cannot make it, paparazzi are flooding the castle and he broke down, we couldn’t even make it to the gate

 **moinvoisintuturo:** holy shit

 **srodulv:** he’s safe now so don’t worry

 **y4z4s:** thank you

 **srodulv:** for what?

 **basile_simple:** we know that you’ve saved him from there

 **moinvoisintuturo:** and he’s safe because of you. so tell him that we’re missing him

 **y4z4s:** and that we hope we can see him again soon

 **srodulv:** will do, thanks guys

 **y4z4s:** eliott?

 **srodulv:**?

 **y4z4s:** you’re a good guy, don’t screw this up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm SO SORRY for not updating sooner but life got in the way so - enjoy!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucas Lallemant, crown prince and heir to the throne, never needed someone to protect him. He never needed someone to protect him until the day he nearly got stabbed by an assassin.
> 
> Now he has to deal with an annoying bodyguard named Eliott Demaury who is, to the chagrin of Lucas, fucking handsome too.
> 
> As if his life hasn‘t been difficult enough already.

Lucas was standing in front of his mirror, fixing his tie, straightening his collar.

One week passed after… after Lucas nearly lost his mind in that crowd in front of the castle. If it wasn’t for Eliott, he would’ve passed out right then and there, in front of hundreds of cameras. The news of “the weak throne heir” would have dominated the news for months after this.

But none of this happened because Eliott had been there.

_Eliott…_

This event had brought them even more closer than they already were before that. And Lucas was one hundred percent sure that this was definitely _not_ good.

And yet.

Yet he felt so safe whenever he was around Eliott. He felt like Lucas, not the prince, not the throne heir, but like he always wanted to feel around people. Like he sometimes felt around Cece back then when they still had all the time in the world to play with each other. Eliott had been there nearly 24/7 after Lucas’ attack. He had been there whenever Lucas needed him, he had been there at night and in the morning and he was always by his side, letting him know that he took his duties as Lucas’ bodyguard more than serious.

Lucas caught him one day in the training room, sweating and punching into the air, training to get even more fitter. Lucas just stood there and watched him, studied the desperation on his face and how his messy and sweaty hair was hanging all over his face.

_He does this for me. He gets fitter and fitter so he can protect me._

A warmth filled Lucas in that moment. The same warmth which always seemed to fill him whenever he thought about Eliott.

“Ready, your highness?”

Lucas jumped slightly as the boy he had been thinking about for the last several minutes suddenly stood behind him. Lucas lifted his head and watched Eliott in the mirror reflection. Eliott was wearing a black suit and tie, the pistole hidden in a secret pocket. But Lucas knew that it was there and Lucas also knew that Eliott could fire a gun without blinking.

Before Lucas got lost into Eliott’s eyes again, he adjusted his gaze and studied his appearance. It was the first time he would really get out of the castle and confront strangers, paparazzi and reporters.

“Not sure”, whispered Lucas quietly and he felt how Eliott moved closer. The hands from the other boy were heavy on Lucas’ shoulders and he was glad for the weight. He felt grounded.

“I am sure, Lucas”, said Eliott quietly and stared at Lucas, intensely, “More than that. You’re doing this not only for them but for you.”

Lucas nodded. Eliott was right. The hospital visit had been on his mind for a long time and it was finally the moment where he maybe could give back some love to his people. And maybe he could even help some children at the hospital to smile today, also if it was difficult for them.

Lucas took a deep breath.

“Let’s go.”

* * *

“So, how is the plan for today?”

Lucas looked up from his notes to Eliott who was sitting next to him in the limo. They were driving straight to the hospital and although Lucas was in thoughts and repeating the speech he wrote over and over again, he could still feel the warmth of Eliott next to him. Lucas shifted closer without a thought.

“We’re going to visit the children section of the hospital and I will try to speak to everyone who wants to speak to me”, said Lucas and nodded slightly as Eliott looked at him with a small smile.

“I… I want to give them hope, you know? I want to show them that they shouldn’t stop fighting, that wonders are still possible.”

Lucas was not able to look up from his notes now anymore. This was not a business affair for him. This was a personal matter because he knew that some of these kids have the same disease which killed his brother.

“I also want to talk to the doctors. Ask them if they need anything for their research. I want… I want to give them every help I can.” Lucas’ voice broke and he felt Eliott’s hand on his knee now, squeezing it reassuring. It gave him strength and so he continued, speaking past the emotions in his voice: “These kids… these kids could maybe get a treatment if the right antidote can be found. These kids… Maybe they don’t have to end up like my brother. They deserve to live. They have their whole life in front of them.”

Eliott had been silent the whole time and Lucas now looked up, finding Eliott watching him with an expression he cannot quite name.

“Does this make any sense at all…?”, asked Lucas with a thin voice, afraid that Eliott might think of him as mad. That he might think Lucas is too weak to change the world like this.

But Eliott only started to smile, leaning in, stopping shortly in front of Lucas’ face. Lucas’ heart starts to raise, his hands holding the notes getting sweaty at the closeness of Eliott’s lips to his own. If he would just lean in a bit more, then…

“All of this makes wonderful sense. You’re wonderful, Lucas”, whispered Eliott and Lucas eyes suddenly burned. He opened his mouth to reply something but suddenly the car came to a stop, the driver announcing that they were here. Lucas already heard the reporters, the flashlights going off, the paparazzi screaming. He took a deep breath, putting a hand over Eliott’s on his knee.

“I’ll always be right behind you, okay?”, said Eliott and Lucas nodded, a smile playing around the corners of his mouth.

“I know.”

“Let’s show them what a real king looks like”, said Eliott with a smirk and Lucas was so glad that at least one of them always knew what to say.

* * *

_This is bad._

_No._

_This is worse than bad._

Eliott was standing at the door of the hospital room as he watched the prince kneel down in front of a boy, speaking to him with his soft voice. The little one looked at him with so much admiration in his eyes that it nearly hurt.

_This is how I must look whenever I look at him._

The speech Lucas gave in the beginning of their visit took breaths away and made eyes wet with tears. Eliott had always known that Lucas was a good speaker. But knowing that Lucas laid out his heart bare in front of all these strangers brought Eliott to the edge of crying too. He wanted to kiss him so badly back in the car.

And he maybe would’ve done it if the car hadn’t stopped.

Eliott knew that his feelings for Lucas were wrong. That he should’ve drowned them from the beginning on, that he should’ve kept his distance. But… but he just couldn’t. From the moment he knew that Lucas was the prince, he felt such a urge to protect him that it sometimes caught him off guard to feel how fucking much he cared about him.

_Too much._

_Way too much._

To this day, he dealt with everything. Whenever he wanted to kiss him, he turned his face away in the last moment. Whenever he wanted to touch him, he did, but he always reminded himself that they were friends. And nothing more. And maybe this could’ve worked out somehow. Maybe he could’ve guarded his heart for so long until Lucas was happily married and he was out of the game.

But in this very minute, in this very second, Eliott Demaury couldn’t deny it anymore.

He loved Lucas.

He loved him and he would never stop loving him.

Eliott had always been the type to hide his feelings, to wait it out, to let it all pass. But seeing Lucas with all these children, caring so much about their dreams, their hopes, their faith and just… being there for them and bringing them joy in their dark times… All this just made Eliott’s heart melt with all the love it held for Lucas.

Lucas was kind. So fucking kind. And he was charming and caring and resolute to the same time, giving the reporters the answers they wanted and posing for the pictures they needed. No one saw how he always threw a glance over his shoulder, reassuring himself that Eliott was still there. But Eliott wouldn’t move an inch if Lucas didn’t command him too. He would be there till the end of the world for him.

Lucas deserved everything and more.

And Eliott was not sure if he could give all this to Lucas.

_He deserves more than a simple bodyguard. He deserves the world._

_And a simple man like me cannot give this to him._

* * *

“I cannot believe I made it”, said Lucas with a laugh and threw himself onto the couch. Eliott laughed softly and fell down next to him, turning his head so he could look at Lucas.

“You did such a wonderful job, Lucas. You can be proud of yourself.”

Lucas propped himself up onto his elbows so he could properly look at Eliott. His bodyguard had been quite quiet during the visit and on their way back and Lucas didn’t know him like that. He had asked if everything was okay and Eliott just responded that he felt kind of tired these days.

But Lucas had the feeling that there was more to it.

“You really think so?”, asked Lucas now because Eliott’s opinion meant more to him than he would ever openly admit. Eliott now sat up too and nodded with a completely serious face.

“Your speech touched so many people and the kids… Have you seen how there eyes were shining? They were so happy to see you, to meet you. To… have been a little and tiny part of your life.”

“They are more than a tiny part…”, said Lucas quietly, “I want to visit this hospital more often now. Maybe once a month. And… and maybe I could read to them. Do you think this is weird?”

Eliott laughed out and suddenly wrapped his arms around Lucas, holding him in an embrace.

“This is… not weird. On the contrary.”

Lucas was so surprised by this hug that he didn’t dare to move for the first few seconds. But then he basically melted into Eliott, snuggling into his arms and burying his face into the chest of the taller boy.

_I could stay like this forever._

_Please let me stay like this forever._

“When I’m king, I want to change the world”, whispered Lucas after some seconds passed. Eliott didn’t move and still held him this close and Lucas didn’t want it to be any other way.

“You already did change the world of some people.”

Lucas lifted his head at that, looking up into Eliott’s beautiful eyes. The other boy was wearing a small smile, looking down at Lucas, one hand at his back and the other was slowly travelling up his arm to his cheek.

“Lucas… I—”

But suddenly, Lucas’ phone was ringing. They both jumped, as if someone had caught them in this intimate embrace. Lucas was blushing now and turned away to look at his phone.

 **monvoisintuturo:** boooooooyssss it’s party night

 **basile_simple:** BIRTHDAY BOY SPOKE

 **monvoisintuturo:** lucas pls tell me that you can somehow make it

“Oh, fuck”, whispered Lucas now. He forgot. He really forgot the birthday of one of his best friends.

 **monvoisintuturo:** you can also bring eliott, ofc

 **y4z4s:** yesss then we can finally get to know him a little better

This was… actually not a bad idea. No one could say anything against Lucas being out and partying if Eliott, his bodyguard, was with him.

“What is it?”, asked Eliott now, tilting his head slightly.

“It’s Arthur. It’s his birthday today and they’re going out to celebrate.”

Eliott nodded and a slow smile was spreading on Lucas’ face.

“And… since we also have something to celebrate, we should go too.”

“WE?”, asked Eliott, raising his eyebrows slightly.

“Yeah. They said you could come, too. I mean… you need to pretend you’re coming with me as my bodyguard but I… I would like to have you with me as my…”

_As my boyfriend._

“… friend. As my friend.”

Eliott blinked once. Lucas could tell that he was thinking, going through all the protocols in his head and trying to find a little leak so they could leave right there and then.

“Please?”, added Lucas now, wearing his best puppy look and Eliott sighed deeply, throwing his hands into the air with a grin.

“As if I could say no with you looking at me like this.”

Lucas nearly raised his fist in the air, cheering, but instead he grabbed his phone and started to type an answer.

 **lucallemant:** we’re in, meeting up with you in 15 minutes

“This will be super fun.”

“Oh, dear god, let’s hope so”, said Eliott with a laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YES I'M STILL ALIVE AND YES THIS FANFIC WILL CONTINUE AND YES I'M SORRY FOR THE LACK OF POSTS HAHA


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucas Lallemant, crown prince and heir to the throne, never needed someone to protect him. He never needed someone to protect him until the day he nearly got stabbed by an assassin.
> 
> Now he has to deal with an annoying bodyguard named Eliott Demaury who is, to the chagrin of Lucas, fucking handsome too.
> 
> As if his life hasn‘t been difficult enough already.

The club was already packed when Lucas and Eliott arrived.

“Holy shit, I forgot how many people really still do these club things”, murmured Eliott, making Lucas chuckle. The prince pulled down his hood to conceal his face. The others didn’t need to know that the throne heir of their land was under them, Lucas just wanted to have a good time and nothing more. Besides, this was Arthur’s birthday and not another episode of “Lucas, the scandal prince”.

“You sound as if you haven’t been to a party in centuries, Eliott.”

Eliott raised his eyebrows at Lucas, looking down at the smaller boy.

“Well, my duty to protect the prince is a bit of a hindrance for me.”

Lucas gasped jokingly and shoved Eliott slightly, a grin on his face.

“Did you just called me a hindrance?”

Eliott just grinned and started to wind through the crowd, a hand on Lucas’ wrist to drag him with him. “No one knows”, murmured Lucas’ bodyguard and Lucas couldn’t hide his grin. He was very happy that Eliott agreed to come with him and not just because he felt way more safer with him around. He just felt _good_ whenever Eliott was by his side, he felt this strange sensation inside of him, this warmth which spread even more whenever Eliott looked at Lucas or touched him.

And Lucas was tired of hiding these feelings, burying them deep inside of him when all he wanted to do was screaming them out.

And yet.

“LULUUUUUUU!”

Lucas laughed as Yann, Basile and Arthur danced towards them, wrapping Lucas into a big group hug. He had missed this. His best friends, out here, partying, forgetting about his duty and the big thing called his future looming above him. He would forget everything for this one night and just be… Lucas.

“And you must be Eliott, right?”

Lucas grinned as Basile addressed Eliott this openly and before Eliott could answer, Basile had thrown his arm around the much taller boy, making him part of the group hug too.

“Welcome to the gang, Eliott”, said Yann with a grin. Lucas watched how Eliott’s smile grew and grew till it was so wide that his smile alone could fill the whole room with warmth. Lucas felt such a rush of happiness inside of him in this moment. Seeing Eliott being part of their old gang, seeing him getting included by his best friends and realizing how much this actually meant for Eliott.

Arthur produced five beer bottles from nowhere and held them out to all of them.

“To our new group member”, he screamed over the loud voices of the club-goers and the music.

“To you, Arthur!”, screamed Lucas and all of them clinked their bottles together.

_This is gonna be the best evening._

* * *

Lucas didn’t know that Eliott could move like that.

Sure, Eliott was full of grace when it came to partner dancing. Lucas had witnessed it himself when Eliott was the masked stranger that one night.

But he didn’t know that he could dance like _that_.

He and his bodyguard danced a tiny bit separately from their other friends, dancing very closely, never breaking eye contact. To outsiders, it must have seemed like Eliott and Lucas where in a completely other world and to be honest, Lucas kind of also felt like this.

Lucas could feel Eliott’s hips against his body, his hands touching his back every so often. And while these touches looked like accidents to others, Lucas and Eliott both knew that they were way more than an accident. Lucas took another sip from his beer bottle while moving his body to the music.

“Slow down, killer”, said Eliott with a tiny laugh. He only drank one beer the whole evening until now and Lucas knew that he did it because he was still kind of on duty.

“But it’s Arthur’s birthday”, slurred Lucas while leaning forward to Eliott, his lips nearly grazing Eliott’s ear, “We have to celebrate!”

Eliott put his hands on Lucas’ shoulders, trying to steady the swaying young man.

“We _are_ celebrating. But you’re already kinda drunk, Lucas.”

“Whaaaaaaat?”, asked Lucas innocently while emptying his beer with one big gulp, “I can still drink more.”

“I know. But this wouldn’t be too good for you.”

Lucas swayed and put a hand on Eliott’s cheek while smiling dumbfounded at him.

“But you’re not my father, Eli”, said Lucas quietly before turning around and going to the bar, getting another beer. It was cute from Eliott to worry so much about him but Lucas knew when to stop.

At least he thought so.

He ordered another beer and suddenly, a beautiful brown-haired, young woman was standing next to him. She smiled sweetly and Lucas responded the smile. He couldn’t think straight anymore, the alcohol had gone to his brain and all he could see was Eliott’s smile on the lips of this girl.

_Lips of this girl… Eliott’s smile… Eliott’s lips…_

The faces of the totally different persons, of Eliott and this stranger, blurred together and before Lucas could stop himself, he pulled the girl into his arms and kissed her passionately. He knew that this was not right but the girl immediately stuck her tongue down Lucas’ throat and Lucas let out an involuntarily groan.

_You’re using her. You’re kissing her while thinking of kissing Eliott._

But his brain couldn’t really understand this statement. All he could think of was how Eliott would put his big arms around him, how he would disappear in this feeling, in the soft push of the other boy’s lips, how safe he would feel and…

Someone cleared his throat behind Lucas.

Lucas pulled away from this sloppy kiss and looked into the angry eyes of his bodyguard.

Just then, his senses seemed to clear a little bit.

“Eliott…”

“I think you need some fresh air”, said Eliott with an icy tone. It reminded Lucas of the way they had spoken to each other when all of this started, when Eliott first came into the castle and was cast as Lucas’ bodyguard.

“But…”

“Now.”

The tone in Eliott’s voice didn’t leave any room for arguments and so Lucas followed him, leaving the confused, and also drunk girl behind.

* * *

“I didn’t need any fresh air, I was fine in there.”

“I definitely saw that.”

Lucas literally flinched as Eliott addressed him like that. The warmth in his voice was gone completely and Lucas couldn’t understand why. Eliott couldn’t read his thoughts. He couldn’t have sensed that Lucas kissed that girl only because he wanted to kiss him. He just hooked up with a girl like nearly every boy did in this club.

“What is your problem?”, slurred Lucas now and leaned against the wall of the dark alley they were currently in. They were alone, Eliott surely did some preparations before he brought Lucas here. Lucas tore down the hood and was glad for the fresh breeze which ruffled through his hair. Maybe he indeed needed some fresh air.

“My problem?”, started Eliott, his voice raised a bit. He drove both of his hands through his hair and paced before Lucas for a moment before coming to a stand, very close to the smaller boy.

“My problem is your recklessness. Your irresponsible behaviour, Lucas”, said Eliott now and his voice shook a bit. Lucas wasn’t sure if this was the truth. If this was what Eliott bothered or if all of this actually went into a total different direction.

“My irresponsible behaviour?”, repeated Lucas and laughed humourless, “You sound like my father. No one knows who I am. No one can even see who their dance partner is and no one would expect the prince to be among them.” Lucas threw his hands in the air. “I wanted to be free, Eliott. Free to do as I please for one night. Only for one night I wanted to be more than my title, more than the prince or the throne heir or some figure to look up to. I wanted to dance and I wanted to drink and I wanted to drown my sorrows.”

Lucas was breathless after this tiny speech and he stared at Eliott. He could literally watch how the expression of the other boy opposite him softened slightly and it made his heart race faster.

“If the press is going to see you hooking up with some girl you just met on a party, then no one will take you seriously anymore.”

Eliott’s voice was softer this time, nearly tender, but Lucas was in full rage mode now. Didn’t he understand that Lucas did all of this also because of him? Because he couldn’t and didn’t want to escape his feelings for Eliott anymore but he had to do it nevertheless? Lucas laughed out once more, the sound loud in the dark and empty alley.

“As if anyone is taking me seriously these days! I’m a puppet from my father, I don’t even have any say in the political relationships of our country or who I’m going to marry! I’m a pathetic, little shit, Eliott!”

Both of them stared at each other but Lucas wasn’t done yet.

“I don’t care about the other’s, Eliott. In fact, I don’t give a single fuck. Tonight, I’m going to do what I want. I’m going to be drunk as fuck and I’m going to distract myself from the big shit which is my life. I’m going to get drunk and hook up with everyone who comes into my path just so I can forget who I really want to kiss!”

Silence.

All the sounds seemed to fade away, even the wind seemed to stop and on this planet only two people existed.

Eliott and Lucas.

“What?”, whispered Eliott now, after endless seconds went by.

_Fuck._

Lucas stared at Eliott, watching him. And he could be mistaken but Lucas saw something like hope blooming in the eyes of his bodyguard. Hope and warmth. And something else which he couldn’t quite place.

 _No turning back now_.

Maybe it was the alcohol in his blood. Maybe it was the chill which crept down his spine, making his body seek the warmth of the one opposite him. Or maybe it was the way Eliott’s gaze went straight into his heart whenever he looked at Lucas.

Or maybe it was all of this in combination which made Lucas say the next words.

“The only one I want to kiss is my bodyguard.”

A heartbeat passed. Two heartbeats. Three.

Eliott exhaled as if he was holding his breath.

Lucas opened his slips slightly.

And before the next heartbeat could pass, they crashed into each other.

Two stars colliding, an explosion of love and light and passion and so. much. more.

Eliott’s lips tasted exactly like Lucas imagined they would be. They were soft and the sensation made Lucas dizzy.

This was no tender kiss, no exploring touches.

This was pure passion.

This was the way two people kissed after they had been holding back their feelings for such a long time.

This was the way two people kissed who belonged to no one but each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO I'M NOT DEAD HAHAHA
> 
> thank you to everyone who is still here reading this fic and I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I did writing it! also: i hope the wait was worth it haha

**Author's Note:**

> so my friends, my third fanfiction and it's one of my favorite au's - modern royalty! the fandom is practically dead but i keep writing since some of you might be still interested so YAY


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